Last night we went to the launch of the Chinese New Years' festivals. The event took place in a nearby park so we walked there in the early evening. The park was filled with many tents where different activities were being held, food being served and some were selling CNY gift items. The first thing we came upon was the children's area (thank goodness) which was great because it hooked Cooper right in. Cooper made a beautiful pink flower from a paper cup and fake paper petals. Then we went to the Volkswagon tent where they had a huge mural for children to paint. The boys loved this! As we were leaving to make room for other children to have their turn Coop said, "We'll be back later guys!" The boys got a apron (which Coop calls a "afron") and a red envelope with candy coins inside.
Since it is the year of the Dragon you can imagine that dragon images were everywhere. They had a huge blow up dragon and a video screen with which displayed different dragon.
The food smelled amazing. There were food stands with tastes from all over Asia. We settled on these chips on a stick. They were delicious tho didn't seem very Asian! The boys had Dippin' Dots- nothing special about that.
We walked around for quite a while before finding a place to sit to see the show. Once we were settled, the kids enjoyed their ice cream and we people watched. It was fine until a very drunk man, sat or maybe fell down, right near us. It was not a pleasant sight and luckily he passed out before causing any problems. Soon after, security came by and escorted him out of the park. Coop asked me what was wrong with him and I just told he he was very, very tired.
Before the performance began, a two Aboriginal men were invited on stage. One was playing the didgeridoo and the other offered thanks the Cadigal people whose land we were on and honoured their elders past and present. After that, there were quite a few speeches in both English and Chinese, a tribute to Bruce Lee with a martial arts performance and a bit of a Chinese opera. The boys really liked the music and danced with each other! So cute.
Then came the best part- the lions came on stage moving to the drums and gongs that we are becoming accustomed to hearing. There were 5 of them and they were each white with another color. They were gorgeous! This was the first appearance for these lions. The lions have to be brand new each year or they might bring back some of the bad luck from the previous year. When they arrived on stage, the traditional eye-dotting ceremony was performed on each lion. You can sort of see it in the picture below.
"Dotting the Eye" refers in particular to the Chinese tradition of painting in the eye of the Chinese lion before the start of the lion dance to awaken the spirit of the lion. This is a traditional ceremony to awaken a new lion, or from a more traditional viewpoint, bring down the spirit of the lion from the heaven and give it life. This ceremony signifies the existence or birth of a new lion into the world
After the eye-dotting ceremony, the lions danced. It was an incredible thing to see. Watching all 5 lions dance in unison to the drums and gongs. I wish the video I took would upload to my blog, but it won't. The pictures will have to do.
After the lion dance was over, most people started to leave. It was definitely the highlight of the event. There were more speeches and perhaps more entertainment, but we did not stay. As we were leaving, we saw another (new) lion preparing to do the lion dance around the festival grounds stopping at each tent to bless them and bring them good luck in the new year. I wish we could have stayed for that part as well, but it was getting late and the boys needed to get home.
I am still trying to figure out the significance of the man in the mask. I have found only two explanations so far. One is that he will wake the sleeping lion who, when he awakens, realises he is hungry and will then do the "search for the greens." The other possible explanation I found is:
Apart from the lion, the performers are accompanied by a fan bearer, the funny, smiling person or ‘uncle’, the latter being the God of Smiles. While fascinating, entertaining and richly this ritual demonstrates how one should approach the ineffable - with good humour and dexterity.
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