Ceremony for this year's harvests on Mount Wutai

Mount Wutai ceremony for 'Dragon head rising' Day, on Mar 21 [Photo/ wutaishan.city.sohu.com]

The second day of the second lunar month, which comes on Mar 21 this year, is the time for the traditional Chinese festival, "Dragon head rising", and the time to pray to the Earth God falls, so there was the appropriate ceremony at the Shuxiang Temple on Mount Wutai, Shanxi province, with a master, Guoxiang, vice-president of the Wutai Buddhist Association and abbot of the temple, presiding.

Master Guoxiang leading the chanting of sutras, on Mar 21. [Photo/ wutaishan.city.sohu.com]

The festival also marks the beginning of the spring planting and folk legend has it that an auspicious dragon will raise its head on that day as a sign of a plentiful rain to bring a good harvest. Many Buddhist texts describe the celebration of this festival.