Where does the Red Dragon come from?

Red Dragon has its origins in Radical Faerie community and Reclaiming Tradition of Wicca. In Washington DC, it was called the Red Dragon Feast and held annually in Washington DC since 1998. By any name, Red Dragon is a Pagan religious ceremonial event which has been sponsored for the last 20 years by the DC Radical Faeries. Prior to the Faeries being entrusted with the responsibility for hosting the event, the DC Red Dragon Feast was sponsored by DarkFlame Coven, a multiracial coven of Reclaiming Tradition Witches. The Red Dragon Feast tradition, however, is older, and began on the West Coast in the 1980s. As people move in and out of DC, and as many DC Radical Faeries took on Pagan studies, the event continues hosted by Stone Circle Wicca (USA).

What is the significance of Red?

Oxygenated blood is red. Red symbolizes the sacred Life Force and blood as the manifestation of that Life Force. Red in Wiccan symbology is the color associated with the Direction South and the Element Fire, and represents action, passion, will, and sexual energy. The Red Dragon Feast is all red as a kind of immersion in blood. There are prayers and invocations specifically directed to the Red Blood Cells in the ritual. In the last decade, the Faeries have begun using more white as well, as a symbol of the White Blood Cells. The red is associated with survivors, and the white with those we have lost to blood-borne diseases.

What is the cultural context of the Red Dragon Feast?

The cultural context of the Red Dragon Feast is Queer Paganism as a religion. It is attended by a group that is racially/ethnically diverse, although predominantly European American, which reflects the demographics of Wicca and Paganism. The ceremony is explicitly identified with the Queer traditions of Paganism and the magickal and healthcare needs of the LGBTQIA+ community. The symbology and customs of the event only make sense in the context of Queer Paganism.

Does the Red Dragon purport to be specifically the lung of Chinese mythology?

No. The Red Dragon was chosen to be a cultural symbol that would be accessible to people of many ethnic identities, using a mythical creature common to most cultures. The Red Dragon imagery used in the Red Dragon Feast alludes to European, Asian, African, North and South American, and Australian dragon mythology. European dragon imagery predominates.

What is the history of the Dragon Head Mask?

Wicca and other modern Paganisms make extensive use of masks, fanciful garments, and veils in ceremony. Masks are often important tools to allow one ritualist to set aside her or his own identity and represent, for the group, a spiritual presence that is sought in the ritual. The Red Dragon mask used in the Red Dragon Feast (the Caput Draconis) was first made by a Radical Faerie Knox (Rod Sauquillo), a Filipino American immigrant Gay man, in 2002. It has been carefully maintained and redecorated every year since. The Caput Draconis, worn by a Wiccan priest, has allowed the spirit of the Red Dragon to speak words of inspiration and hope to participants in the Red Dragon Feast each year since.

The original inspiration for the Red Dragon head was not the Lion Dance head from Chinese lunar New Year, but instead the Pagan tradition of masks, and the head very clearly has European dragon conventions, such as the elongated, crocodilian snout, that are not part of either the Lion Dance head or Chinese dragon (lung) iconography.

Why is the Red Dragon Feast Important?

The Red Dragon Feast is a ceremony focused on hope. In the early days of the HIV pandemic, the focus was exclusively on the search for a cure. As treatments have become developed but remain unavailable to many due to disparities and injustices in health care systems, the focus has gradually shifted to a more holistic approach to “hope, healing, and a cure.” Many of the most loyal participants are very long-time Positive People, and the Red Dragon Feast exists to affirm their continued survival.

Each year, we publicly commit that we will keep alive the Red Dragon, until there are cures and healing for all blood-borne diseases.