History of the Lion Dance
9-2-16
The Lion dance is a Chinese tradition synonymous with Chinese New Year. We see it happen every year and it's a big source of charitable donations for schools, temples and other organizations. Most troupes charge 2,000HKD to come to your location to perform and also take lai see packets as donations. All the money normally goes to charity. When booking a Dragon dance troupe make sure you know where your money is going. Most of the troupes would be already booked through the New Year but, who knows, maybe you'll get lucky! You may also see Lion dances at weddings and other Chinese holidays.
The Lion dance is often mistakenly referred to as a Dragon dance. An easy way to tell the difference is that a lion is operated by two people, while a dragon needs many people to operate it. Also, in a lion dance, the performers' faces are covered, since they are inside the lion. In a dragon dance, the performers can be seen since the dragon is held up on poles. The Dragon dance is often seen at the MidAutumn Festival.
During CNY, the lion dance troupes visit the houses and shops of the Chinese community to perform the traditional custom of "cai ching" which means "plucking the greens". The job of the lion is to pluck the green vegetables (like lettuce) and fruit (like oranges) tied to red packets. The lion will dance and approach the greens and the red packet, eat and spit out the greens (leaving a nice arrangement) but take the packet with them. The lion dance is believed to bring good luck and fortune to the business and the troupe is rewarded with the red packet.
Different types of vegetables, fruits, foods or utensils with symbolic meanings; for instance pineapples, pomelos, bananas, oranges, sugar cane shoots, coconuts, beer, clay pots or even crabs can be used to be the greens. The more difficult the challenge, the bigger should be the rewards of the ever amazing red packet!
The lions can be many different colors and are custom-made by specialty shops. Red is considered the most traditional.
Kung Hei Fat Choy from HKELD. We hope you get many red packets this year!
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