History:
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty (4th/5th Century) Chinese portraits were sometimes painted without eyes, as the eyes hold life and soul. During the Southern Dynasty (5th/6th Century) people looking at a mural painted for the An Le Monastery in Nanjing found that all the dragons on the wall-paintings lacked pupils in their eyes. When the Abbot invited the painter to add the pupils, the artist said "It must not be done, otherwise they will fly away from the wall into the sky" – however the Abbot was not convinced.  Eventually those dragons with eyeballs painted on them emerged and flew away, while those without stayed on the wall.  (This is the origin for the Chinese proverb "Draw the dragons, dot the eyes".)

Similarly in traditional Chinese Lion dances the lion sleeps until woken – usually an important individual is invited to open the eyes of the lion by dotting the lion with symbolic blood.

Traditionally the blood from a live rooster's comb was used to dot the lion, but now red-ink cinnabar or red paint symbolises the blood awakening.  According to Chinese tradition red is regarded as a life giving colour, representing life and power, as well as being associated with good fortune and prosperity.  Dotting is carried out to the soft sounds of the drum, gong or cymbal, but as the creature awakes and begins to move/dance the sound of the instruments become extremely loud.

When we dot the eyes for dragon-boats or lion dances, the meaning is the same:
We draw the eyes, we give them life!

Being invited to dot the eye and wake the dragon is considered an honour.

Barrie Dragon Boat Festival ceremony:
Special guests and/or community supporters are invited to join the eye dotting ceremony that opens the Barrie Dragon Boat Festival at approximately 7.15 a.m. on race day.To a background of traditional drums we give a short history of dragon boat racing, bringing ancient traditions into our modern world as we call for good fortune to be with all our paddlers. The climax of the ceremony is the actual eye dotting, when our honoured guests help us wake the dragons from their slumber.