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Tomorrow is Chinese New Year. And, since half the heads in Sydney have straight, black hair, the Year of the Dog commences with about 15 days of activities and celebrations around the city. I'm happy that G's parents are not extremely superstitious so we can relax about some of the traditions surrounding what is, essentially, the birthday party for every Asian. It is much deeper than that, but I'm not very up on the religious aspects. For those not in the know, I'll break down what I do know. When a Chinese person is born, they are one year old. At Chinese New Year, everyone advances one year. If I were born January 3rd, I would arrive in the world one year old. If Chinese New Year were January 29th, I would turn two at the tender age of 4 weeks.
So, it's everyone's birthday. Festivities are rife with meaning, tradition and loud fireworks. Not the colourful pyrotechnic kind, just the booming, smoking variety. We attended a lion dance in Parramatta complete with dragons, lions and copious loud fireworks. A dragon is a long, colourful silk snake-like fabric with a stiff head. A long line of people holding sticks attached to the snake's "vertebrae" wave the sticks in such a way that the dragon undulates and interacts with the lions and other characters. The lions are also colourful silk and shiny creatures that have two people operating them. One person is the head and operates the big puppet complete with batting eyelashes and working jaw. The second person is bent over and becomes the rear and back of the lion. They work together to rear up on "hind legs," scratch and bite its rear foot and other activities. When done well, it's very athletic and fun. I was trying to film the dances but the fireworks were so loud at one point that I dropped the camera to protect my ears while I was still filming. The camera was tied around my neck, so I have a whole 30 seconds of scintillating footage of my tummy and explosive sounds. G was my hero. While I was filming, he stuck one of his fingers in my ear to try to help. The smoke from the explosives was not usually a problem, but we were downwind at one point and it was chokingly thick. I brought my shirt up to cover my mouth and nose until it passed. While it was a cool show, it doesn't compare with the more professional displays at the temples. Belinda attended one at a temple last night where each person playing a part represents their organization and they are very acrobatic and energetic to show good face. I wish I understood the details well enough to really report with embellishments all that I witnessed, but I barely grasp the most obvious. Traditionally, the vendors on the street would hire the lion dancers to bring people to their shop and they would receive payment by the shop owners tying a red packet of money to a head of lettuce and dangling it from their awning or sign. The lions would compete to see who could grab it first. There is usually acrobatics involved for them to reach the packet. The dancer in the head has to grab it through the mouth, cut it off, get down and tear the lettuce apart like the lion savaged it, pocket the packet, bow to the shop owners and move on to the next store.
So, it's everyone's birthday. Festivities are rife with meaning, tradition and loud fireworks. Not the colourful pyrotechnic kind, just the booming, smoking variety. We attended a lion dance in Parramatta complete with dragons, lions and copious loud fireworks. A dragon is a long, colourful silk snake-like fabric with a stiff head. A long line of people holding sticks attached to the snake's "vertebrae" wave the sticks in such a way that the dragon undulates and interacts with the lions and other characters. The lions are also colourful silk and shiny creatures that have two people operating them. One person is the head and operates the big puppet complete with batting eyelashes and working jaw. The second person is bent over and becomes the rear and back of the lion. They work together to rear up on "hind legs," scratch and bite its rear foot and other activities. When done well, it's very athletic and fun. I was trying to film the dances but the fireworks were so loud at one point that I dropped the camera to protect my ears while I was still filming. The camera was tied around my neck, so I have a whole 30 seconds of scintillating footage of my tummy and explosive sounds. G was my hero. While I was filming, he stuck one of his fingers in my ear to try to help. The smoke from the explosives was not usually a problem, but we were downwind at one point and it was chokingly thick. I brought my shirt up to cover my mouth and nose until it passed. While it was a cool show, it doesn't compare with the more professional displays at the temples. Belinda attended one at a temple last night where each person playing a part represents their organization and they are very acrobatic and energetic to show good face. I wish I understood the details well enough to really report with embellishments all that I witnessed, but I barely grasp the most obvious. Traditionally, the vendors on the street would hire the lion dancers to bring people to their shop and they would receive payment by the shop owners tying a red packet of money to a head of lettuce and dangling it from their awning or sign. The lions would compete to see who could grab it first. There is usually acrobatics involved for them to reach the packet. The dancer in the head has to grab it through the mouth, cut it off, get down and tear the lettuce apart like the lion savaged it, pocket the packet, bow to the shop owners and move on to the next store.
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