Image size: 7.3 x 10.7 cm
This photograph shows a fish float that is part of the Wangkang Festival procession held in Malacca in 1933.This photograph is part of a series of 30 photographs documenting the 1933 Wangkang Festival in Malacca. The Wangkang Festival originated as a means of collecting wandering souls, evil spirits and other negative elements in the streets of Malacca. The spirits were collected in a model of a Chinese ship (wangkang) which was processed through the streets and set alight at the end of the ceremony. The burning ship sent the spirits back to the underworld and purified the city. This festival has been held in Malacca since 1846.Peranakans commissioned photographs to document their families and important life events such as marriages and deaths. They also commissioned photographs to record their involvement in business enterprises, and in social causes such as schools and academic societies, religious groups, and in community and cultural associations. With improvements in camera technology, it became possible to take photographs without the assistance of a studio in the first decades of the 20th century.
