Hundreds of junks glide along the rivers of Cochinchina. Their destination is Cholon, the great Chinese city and trading centre for the whole of South-East Asia. A long canal, the Arroyo, crosses it from one end to the other, where a multitude of sampans crowd along the banks, veritable floating houses where people drink, eat, sleep and work.
The “Canal aux Bois” brings together all the industries that use wood, from the sampan factories to the manufacturers of “jossticks”, small sticks of incense whose smoke is reminiscent of Chinese pagodas where the religious spirit, as we understand it, seems absent.
Here, the gods are historical figures elevated by popular belief to the rank of patrons or protectors. Very debonair gods who preside over the consultation of spells and demand only a little incense in return. All of this takes place in a joyous, good-natured fair atmosphere that is highly unexpected in a sacred place.