24 Festive Drums Performance

History of the 24 Festive Drums

The concept of the 24 Festive Drums or 24 Season Drums, was created by two talented and legendary Malaysians. One a cultural activist, poet and businessman and the other a renowned musician, both of them shared a similar passion and vision. The latter was bestowed the Warisan Orang Hidup award, by the National Department for Culture and Arts Ministry, for his role as the creator of the 24 Festive Drums performance. The performance is often practised by the local Chinese community, and is very popular with people of all races and level of the society. 

The 24 Festive Drums consists of 24 drums representing the cycle of 24 festivals in the lunar calendar of the Chinese agriculture community, with each drum representing one festival. A full team completes the cycle of 24 festivals in the lunar calendar that for thousands of years has guided the farmers in their agriculture activities in China. 

There are two bold Chinese characters painted in calligraphy on every drum representing each of the 24 agricultural seasons. Each of the drums have their special meaning going by the colour coded Chinese characters in red, black and yellow, which symbolises auspicious, passion, perseverance, the Chinese culture and tradition respectively. Summer, autumn, winter and spring are the primary seasons which are further divided into 6 secondary seasons that makes up the 24 seasons, they are: