A man performs drunk dragon dance during the Drunken Dragon Festival to celebrate the Buddha's birthday in south China's Macao, May 22, 2018. Recognized as an item of China's national intangible cultural heritage, the Drunken Dragon Festival originates from a Macao legend of a Buddhist monk and a divine dragon who saved people from the plague during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

MACAO, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The traditional Drunken Dragon Festival kicked off here in China's Macao Special Administrative Region on Tuesday, featuring Chinese drunken dragon performance, sacrifice offering, as well as providing dragon boat rice to audiences.

The festival, which falls on April 8 in the Chinese lunar calendar, is a traditional cultural event for praying for safety and prosperity of Macao's fishing industry.

Two drunken dragon players hold the head and the tail of the wooden dragon respectively. With a liquor jar in their hands, the players made performance after taking a sip of the liquor and spraying it onto the wooden dragon.

Local residents gathered at the Red Market, a building which was built over 80 years ago, and queued for dragon boat longevity rice. The players also made performance at the Largo do Senado square, attracting thousands of tourists.