The Lion Dancers arrive
Unloading the drums
Our wise calligrapher
Ready to put ink to paper
Prosperity (as far as I know)
Sophia holding tight to the prospect of prosperity...Back to work after the long 4 day CNY holiday. While most everyone (except our airconditioner repair guy) is back at work, the holiday continues.
This past weekend wherever Sophia and I went we heard drums and symbols. This meant there was a Lion Dance taking place nearby.
During the regular year these teams appear at public events and at the openings of stores. During CNY they are everywhere. The lion dance is a tradition that brings good luck to the households or businesses they visit. The dramatic climax of the dance is the Cai Qing or ‘Picking the Green’, where the lion ‘eats’ and then ‘spits’ the leaves out, signifying an abundance of everything in the coming year.
Here in Singapore there must be dozens of Lion Dance teams. They travel through town in flat bed trucks flanked with large brightly colored flags. The kids on the teams are ususlly dresssed in very bright clothes. The troupe includes drummers, cymbol smashers, the lions (usually two person teams) and a bunch of handlers. Last week we saw a team at the Newton Hawker Centre where we were eating.http://www.the-inncrowd.com/newtoncircus.htm They cruised in, got on their gear and proceeded to dance around the stalls followed by the local Member of Parliament, who was handing out two oranges (a CNY symbol of respect) and a paper fish mobile (It symbolizes surplus or having additional savings so as to have more than enough to live throughout the remaining year).
We also saw a troup at the Singapore Art Museum on Friday. We arrived at the museum and were presented with a nice red tote bag containing two oranges. They had a couple of caligraphers who were writing CNY couplets or slogans. We commissiond a small one that should help us have a prosperous year.
Thoughout the weekend the drums and symbols could be heard wherever we ventured. The celebration continues for another week.
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