We first went to Trafalgar Square for the opening performances. We got there rather early and were able to score a good spot near the front facing the stage. The first event was the lighting of firecrackers. Now, these aren't the type of fireworks that shoot up into the air and burst, but the Black Cat kind of firecrackers that pop and make noise and smoke. There were about 5,000 of them! I think they were supposed to scare away the bad spirits for the start of a lucky year, but I'm not sure. What I do know is that, during the fireworks, one of the cartridge ends hit me in the face! I was sure surprised, and my friend Frankie (who lives next to me), saw it happen and pointed out that I had a red mark on my forehead from the firecracker. It was pretty funny I guess.
After that there were a number of diplomatic thank-you speeches by people nobody knew. Before the ceremonies could begin, the "eyes" had to be painted on the dragon and lion costumes. It's a Chinese belief that painting the eyes officially brings the animals to life. So all of the important people came back onstage to paint each of the costume's eyes. This took about 30 minutes in total... and was quite boring.
FINALLY the performances started. There was a very brief dragon dance, followed by a gold-medal winning Lion Dance. These two brothers share one lion costume, and actually do their performances on 6-10 foot poles positioned on the ground! It's very impressive to watch them leap in unison from pole to pole, or balance together, one on the other, on the same poles. All the while dancing like a lion! Essentially the dance tells the story of a lion who must jump over a rugged mountain landslide to return home.
After the Lion Dance we walked to nearby Chinatown for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Of course, the whole area was PACKED with people, and almost every restaurant was full. The place we did eat at was just your basic Chinese food, and I wasn't very impressed. However, we had a GREAT view for the Lion Dancers that kept coming down the street. There were about 5 Lion Dancers going around Chinatown, participating in a ceremonial new-year ritual. The Chinese believe that the sacred lion brings good luck. Therefore, Lion Dancers wear the costumes and go from door to door. Shop owners place a head of cabbage out before the "lion" who then "eats" it (showering the area with lettuce leaves) to show he accepts the offering. It is then thought that the Lion will bring good luck to the shop for the rest of the year.
From our lunch table we could see the lion visit many shops, always surrounded by tourists taking pictures. We were lucky not to be out in the crowds, and still got to see the "offerings" take place!
Here are the pictures from the day. Just click on the photo below to see them all!
Other than that things are just blazing by. I can't believe the term is almost over! Just two weeks left before Spring Break... and we dont' have any settled plans yet. I better get started, but right now I'm super-busy with homework. Oh well, the end is in sight!
No comments:
Post a Comment