The Lion Dance

Every Chinese New Year, my neighbour will call the Lion Dance Troupe to perform at their home. It's a beautiful Chinese art that incorporates Kung Fu in their performance. Me being the nosy neighbour, I stole a few shots of them performing!

The troupe preparing for the performance

This is actually the Southern Lion Dance. One more, the Northern Lion Dance has a different looking lion - it's more shaggy. Personally I prefer the Southern one.. it looks cuter ;)

Having a lion dance performance in houses/businesses is common during Chinese New Year. The dance is accompanied by loud symbals and drums. This is to signify the chasing away of evil spirits (Correct me if i'm wrong, please). The lions are also a symbol of happiness.

The performance started when the firecrackers were lit off..Yes it was very loud. Scared my soul too. I'm sure the evil spirits sprinted off as far as they could!



Remnants of the crackers

So off they went into the house to ward off evil spirits and once they were out, they have to collect their 'payment'.



"Payment"

Their payment (in a red packet) is actually hung somewhere high, together with some 'greens'.

Jump high!

YUM

If I'm not mistaken, choy(vege in chinese) also means luck. The lion will chew the greens, and spit it out.It'll spit the lettuce and throw it out first to the left, then to the right and then to the middle to help spread prosperity in all directions.

See the greens on the floor? They pocketed the red packet!

For more information of the history of lion dance, you can visit these sites:
1. Wikipedia
2. Chinese Lion
3. Lion Dance

Comments

Jerome West said…
Opps, I forgot to wear red yesterday. I forgot that it was the Chinesse New Year. I am forgetting a lot lately. I must be getting old. Now say it after me 8 times ...
26/1/09 16:24
Mariposa said…
Lol you didn't forget. you can still wear red today - As it's the first day of CNY. (Monday)
26/1/09 16:40
Anonymous said…
This is soooo cool!!! I would love to have a much stronger asian culture presence here in America. Speaking of which... Chinese food sounds REALLY good right about now...
26/1/09 16:47
Mariposa said…
LoL @ Aaron~ it'a close to 4am there now! get your butt to bed already ;)
26/1/09 16:50
Turbodog said…
Hey there! I'm just surfing through and stopped when I saw the lions :). Ah, that brings me back. My kwoon used to perform the dance. I was always the head... then I grew and they made me the tail. My sifu (teacher) always said the bigger kids were in the back to hold up the head guy for power moves. To me, all I heard was "you're fat so move to the back now!" GAH! Anyway, have a great day!
27/1/09 03:03
adelynne said…
ya, the fire-crackers damn kuat one. and i jarang hear of ppl asking lion dancers to perform at one house, haha! like carollers wei! ;p
31/1/09 00:00
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What are they listening to?

Image
Ever wondered what music sports people and celebrities listen to? I was watching the Olympics swimming competition and the swimmers were walking to the pool. Suddenly I see Michael Phelps walking out with earphones.. I wonder what he's listening to? So here are a few pics of sports people/celebs and what I think they're listening to. All the pics aren't mine, I took 'em off the net, so credit goes to whoever that took the pics k? Feel free to contribute your thoughts ;) USA NBA Star Lebron James - Getcha' Head in the Game [High School Musical] Russian Tennis Player Maria Sharapova - The Kill [30 Seconds to Mars(Venus)] Chelsea football/soccer player, Nicolas Anelka* - Second Chance [Trisha Yearwood] * missed a penalty at the Champions' League Final Desperate Housewives star Terri Hatcher - Yet Another Plumber [Flashlight Brown] Super fit Fergie - Work It [Missy Elliot] Cristiano Ronaldo* - Holiday in Spain [Counting Crows] * was rumoured to move ...
Read more

Come Read With Me (February)

Image
I've got 4 books to share with you for February :) First would be a book given to me by Mariposi (aka Gavin) for my birthday. Was so thoughtful of you! Thank goodness he gave me the English version as I do not think I would be able to tackle the original version (which is in Spanish) as my vocabulary in Spanish is abysmal at this moment. The cover of the book pretty much sums up the story - A novel in monthly instalments with recipes, romances and home remedies. The story is set in a ranch in Mexico. A boy resorted to marry the sister of his girlfriend just so he could be close to her as she was destined to take care of her mother till her mother dies as she was the youngest of the family. I love the way Laura writes and she incorporates a lot of recipes in between the main plot. I just watched the movie (no subtitles!) and it was a good thing I read the book beforehand or else I might have gotten a little lost. They followed the book 100% and it was really good :) For more informa...
Read more

Barcelona!!

Image
Be warned: This is a super long post..longer than my Al-Hambra one! I'm finally blogging about my next destination during my trip to Spain.. that is none other than the lovely and quirky.. BARCELONA! After the last day of class (Friday), my friend Nav and I took the bus to Madrid..we booked a flight to Barcelona from Madrid at about 6.30am (i think?) on Saturday morning. We said our goodbyes to our housemates and new found friends, and departed the beautiful Salamanca. On the way to Madrid (last time onboard the efficient and comfy Avanza) I caught Ávila at night and I must say the view was breathtaking, it happened to quickly and I couldn't take the pic on time. Managed to catch the colourful sky though =) Skyline - trust me if was so beautiful in real, the camera gives it no credit at all. We spent the night at the airport, but I didn't get much sleep at all - THANKS to one lousy couple who sat opposite me..that lady had an annoying high pitched laugh..AND SHE KEPT LAUG...
Read more