The Lion Dance

It is Chinese New Year. The Year of the Dog. Students at my school get ready for their “Multicultural Show”. Today there are many different Asian groups performing. A Vietnamese fan dance. A Hmong dance. Pilipino jumping dance with the bamboo poles. And to start and finish it off is our school’s version of the Lion Dance. I hear the drums and cymbals. Bang! The lion dances proudly. Happy New Year! Gung hay fat choy!

I remember my first Chinese New Year Lion Dance. I was very small and it was very loud. The firecrackers scared me and the larger-than-life lion heads petrified me. We had gone to Chinatown with my aunt, uncle and cousins to see our first lion dance. I think I cried most of the time.

Several years later when I was in high school my friend Marilyn invited me to go with her and her family to Chinatown for the New Year’s celebrations and Lion Dance. Her family was Cantonese but welcomed me warmly to their celebration.

Chinatown was bustling with people. Old Chinese grandmothers scurrying to buy the last vegetable for their dinner. Tourists roaming the shops looking for bargains. Families wandering up and down Grant Avenue greeting friends and showing off their children. I remember we went first to the Chinese bakery my friend’s family owned and picked up a few more relatives. Then we wound around to a little side street to a restaurant probably owned by a family friend. Upstairs to the banquet hall. Large round tables with the biggest lazy susan’s I had ever seen. We sat as dish upon dish was brought to the table. Steam poured out from soups, noodles, meat and vegetable dishes, rice, and countless items I had never tasted.

We ate for what seemed like hours, loud banter and hushed murmurs. Chopsticks waving in the air to make a point. Babies crying and dishes dropping all added to the cacophony. But it was good then, warm and friendly, and I was having a ball.

Later we ventured outside among the crowds and squeezed into place to watch the famous Chinatown Lion Dancers. First we heard firecrackers, then drums and cymbals. Soon sparklers and lanterns came into view as the dancers wound their way amongst the crowd. Bang! The head reared up as the dancers held it high. Bang! Pop! The lion snaked along the street. More firecrackers and music seemed to come from all directions. The crisp night lit up with the celebration. The crowd cheered the dancers on as they gyrated to the ever changing music. Bang! Pop! We watched the procession as it wound down the street. Soon the dancers got swallowed up by the crowd and we only heard the drums and cymbals. Bang! A last firecracker near us exploded. People cheered as they wandered off to continue their Chinatown adventure. Happy New Year! Gung hay fat choy!