The Journey Through the Highways of Life: Chinese Traditions: The Lion Dance

The Lion dance is one of the many Chinese traditions that you can find in the Chinese culture. Over the centuries little has changed in this traditional Chinese dance.

The definition of lion dance from wikipedia

Lion dance (Simplified Chinese: 舞狮; Traditional Chinese: 舞獅; pinyin: wǔshī) is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture, in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume.

The lion costume may be operated by a single dancer, or more frequently by a pair of dancers. The single dancer springs about while energetically moving and shaking the head and operating the jaws and eyes. The pair of dancers, forming the back and fore legs of the beast, mimic the motions of a single animal as they move between platforms of varying elevations. The dance is traditionally accompanied by gongs, drums and firecrackers, representing the descent of good luck.

The History

The lion dance originated in China close to a thousand years ago. The lion is traditionally regarded as a guardian creature. It is featured in Buddhist lore, being the mount of Manjusri. There are different variations of the lion dance in other Asian cultures including mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore, with each region possessing their own styles.

Chinese lion dances can be broadly categorised into two styles, Northern (北獅) and Southern (南獅).

Northern dance was used as entertainment for the imperial court. The northern lion is usually red, orange, and yellow (sometimes with green fur for the female lion), shaggy in appearance, with a golden head. The northern dance is acrobatic and is mainly performed as entertainment.

Southern dance is more symbolic. It is usually performed as a ceremony to exorcise evil spirits and to summon luck and fortune. The southern lion exhibits a wide variety of colour and has a distinctive head with large eyes, a mirror on the forehead, and a single horn at center of the head.

The Lion dance is often confused with the Chinese Dragon Dance, which features a team of around ten or more dancers. The Lion Dance usually consists of two people.

I still remember when I was a little kid, I loved watching the lion dance. If we pass through a house and there is a lion dance performance going on in the house, I would ask my dad to stop the car and I will watch the dance with awe. My mum re-called that there was once when I was still a kid no more than 10 years old I guess... I would nag my parents to buy me those small lion... and I am quite a demanding kid too. They wanted to get me the kiddy type I guess and I answered them.

Little Edwin : I don't want this one, I want the eyes can snip snip one.....
Mum : eyes can snip snip?
Little Edwin : Neh the eyes can snip snip one... this one the eye cannot snip snip one.
Mum : (Finally she gets what I meant)... oh it is the eyes can blink not snip.
Little Edwin : oh...I want that one...the eye can blink blink one...

or this could be my answer.
Mum : (Finally she gets what I meant)... oh it is the eyes can blink not snip snip.
Little Edwin : .......................

My dad also got me a tape where it plays the drums, gongs, cymbals together and I would take my lion head and dance around as if I am a pro... (bleh >.<") come to think of it, very embarrassing... ha ha. Not only that when relatives who comes and visit our house I would put the tape and dance for them... I would follow what the professionals do. But when they ask me to join the real thing I would run and hide...cause I felt shy.... gosh... do I even have this 2 words "shy and embarrass" in my dictionary when I was a kid. But I outgrew all this soon. Never the less, I still like to watch people performing the lion dance. But I don't stop the car on purpose just to see it. Unless they are beautiful girls... LOL.... sheesh.... I am getting more perverted each day.

Well here are some photos that I have taken this Chinese New Year. So enjoy.... oh ya not forgetting the video.