‘Sailing’ through the streets of Melaka, cleansing the historic city

Devotees pull a special Wangkang ship through a 9km procession route in the historical city of Melaka with 22 stops where priests performed cleansing rituals to command evil spirits and other negative influences to board the boat during Wangkang or 'royal ship' festival on Jan 11. Photo: AP

The Wangkang festival is a rare and spectacular heritage that goes back to more than three centuries when seafaring migrants from Fujian, China, fled persecution during the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1911) and settled down in Melaka.

One of the grandest Wangkang processions in recent times took place on Jan 11 as thousands of visitors from mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and tourists from around the world joined devotees from the Hokkien and Baba Nyonya communities in observing the sacred ritual.