last sunday we went to chinatown, as they were celebrating the chinese new year (year 4710), which started jan 23rd. the year of the rabbit giving way to the year of the dragon.... (once every 12 years, as there are 12 animals) i was reading a bit, and did not realize this; in western culture/literature the dragon is a mean, scary beast that needs to be defeated by heroes and so on. on the other hand, in eastern culture the dragon is a symbol of good fortune and intense power.... this could be a good year... ! :) people born under this sign are regarded as innovative, passionate people who are colorful, confident and fearless.
the dancing dragons were going from door to door in chinatown, seemingly tireless, throwing around lettuce and oranges (this was what they were feeding the dragons). as they were going up each stairs leading to the shops and restaurants, firecrackers were going off. of course, there had to be a policeman guarding this all, but he looked rather bored... (maybe it was too noisy for him).
the theme day for this month at citydailyphoto is animals, so that was a good opportunity to show this pic! :)
4 comments:
They had dragon dancers going from store to store in the mall when I was there last Saturday. No firecrackers, but there was a drummer and cymbal player.
Now that I think about it, it might have been Chinese lion dancers. Maybe they're interchangeable.
Nice photo of an original animal. I have seen this often in Amsterdam, but this year they didn't got subsidie, so the tour was cancelled, too bad.
it was really fun (once we got there)! but i don't really believe in astronomy. there seem to be good traits for everyone, and not enough bad ones. you could look at the signs of really terrible people and find out that they are actually creative, have a naughty sense of humor, and are very open to new relationships or something. Or am I being too cynical here? :)
I heard recently that they expect about a 10% uptick in births in China this year. Many people want "dragon children" because of their good fortune.
I see a few "dragon legs" in the crowd in your picture. I wonder if dancers trade off from time to time.
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