Dragon Dance with fire crackers, During the dance the performers hold poles and raise and lower the dragon, which is made out of fabric. The lead dancers lift, dip, thrust, and sweep the head, which may contain animated features controlled by a dancer and is sometimes rigged to belch smoke from pyrotechnic devices. The artistic and dance team mimics the supposed movements of this spirit and hence brings the motionless body to life. All the dancers within the dragon must co- operate the body in combination with the timing of the drum. The drum is not only used to beat a rhythm, but the loud noise of the instrument wills care away evil spirits and monsters like the giant ‘Nian’. Sometimes one man has a 'Pearl of Wisdom' on a pole and he entices the Dragon to follow him to the beat of a drum, as if searching for wisdom and knowledge. Street scene, Silom Road, Bangkok