Lion Dancing

Yesterday was the first day of Chinese New Year and the kids and I went to see the annual Dragon/Lion dance (I hear both terms used but I think it's technically a lion dance) at the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art Center in downtown Dallas.

It brought back so many memories of my mission to Taiwan. I'll never forget the day that Sister Chan and I were pushed into a mall amongst a throng of shoppers during Chinese New Year, quickly finding ourselves in the midst of festivities celebrated right there in the store! Imagine two lions like the ones pictured below dancing around the make up counters. It was wild!

There is nothing quite like the fifteen day celebration of New Year in Asian countries. The food, the firecrackers, the music, the color - it seems that there is constant action and noise! Sure enough, both Esther and Nathan were a little nervous, what with the beating of the drum and the crashing cymbals. Once I was holding Nathan and letting Esther hang onto my arm while I took pictures, they became brave enough to watch without cowering or crying.

All the kids in the audience had been given hongbaos (red envelopes) and then crowded around the lion to feed him for good luck. Esther didn't want anything to do with it, though. She prefered watching from the safety of the stroller, especially when he came close to us.

We are looking forward to attending a Vietnamese celebration of the New Year on Saturday, as well as hosting a dinner for the missionaries, one of whom is from Taiwan!

Here are a few pictures and two videos of the event.



If you're interested, check out this YouTube video showing some of the 2006 World Lion Dance Championships. They do some pretty cool stuff.