Chinese Lion Dance

[GeneChing]

Does this work for you all?

The Tiger Chinese New Year Shuffle

[Featherstone]

Nice work!

[GeneChing]

But I shouldn't be critical as I used to lion dance for the Grateful Dead. Check out part 2 of my Chinese New Year offering: YEAR OF THE DRAGON 2012: The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Head

[yu shan]

Hi Gene, really enjoyed that article on your personal reflection on lion dance, good read. I have a question for you folks. Can someone break down the significance of the various colors of the lions. Gold, geen, red, black, purple etc. I have been told certain things but would like to hear what you guys have to say. And what color is best for openings of stores, weddings and New Years Celebrations. Thank you in advance and this is a fascinating topic.

[GeneChing]

The first thing that you have to understand about Lion Dance is that it is a folk tradition, which means that while it may be codified with specific lineages or clans, this is not universal. There's significant variations, even in the type of lion heads. For a good overview of the dominant Southern Chinese traditions, see Lion Dance: A Guide to History, Culture and Technique By Wes Cameron (2001 March/April). That article provides the short answer to your question: Lion colors represent the three heroes of from Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Yellow head/white beard = Liu Bei, Red head/black beard = Guan Gong, Black or Green head/black beard - Chang Fei. For a taste of the variations, see Behind the Big Door Part II - Taiwan Secret of Hung Men Salutes, Tribunal Halls and the Rituals of Exotic Lion Dance By Gigi Oh and me (2003 July/August). In that article, we show several of the unique variations on lion motifs.

Modern day lion dance has fused several elements from different traditions (such as the LMFAO dance and my Grateful Dead lion dancing mentioned above). This has also affected lion head colors. The introduction of mylar reflective tape changed everything, so nowadays, it's hard to find a lion head without it. I've seen pink and purple heads and don't really know what that means, although I've only seen pink lions for all-female teams. Gold heads are considered propitious for bringing luck for money, which is rather obvious symbolism. That's usually considered lucky for business openings. I've also seen white lions, which are very rare and only used for funerals as white is a death color in Chinese feng shui. Red is a wedding color but my wedding lions were black and yellow (there were two). As for Chinese New Years, if you really want to get into the feng shui of it (and this gets cumbersome) there's often discussion of lucky colors specific to that year (our horoscopes this year didn't mention any, but it has in past years). Once you open that feng shui box, things get really complicated, but inevitably, you have no choice, as lion dance is intimately tied to feng shui.

[SleepingDragon]

what your lion does has to be taken into context of what you are trying to communicate. The martial artist wielding the trident before the lion is reminiscent of the story of the martial artists hunting the nien or lion.

The weapons are used in chengs because of two things, the host is testing the groups Kung Fu if they are a matial lion. so in the case of the snake impeding the path they will any weapons for the body and fangs. If the group is a civil lion they will use things like a stalk of sugarcane for the body. There are no rules what to use for the body-staff, spear, three sectional staff, whip (7 and 9) etc.

Also, the most important thing about greens are the theme of the cheng. It is irrelevent if the cheng has no theme. The theme tells you all about the puzzle provided you are learned in chinese culture. Many are based on literature or change of luck like the snake. However, not all greens featuring a snake of some sort is bad and so you do not attack the eyes or snake.

[SleepingDragon]

Here is a link to my webpage

I wrote some information, some of you may already may know these things, others may find it useful. The first is the home page. Another is about lion dance and its hidden meanings. The third is about some of the different cheng formations. I think I have 150 listed so far. Just remember, there are many ways to set up and play. As I have learned, the most important thing to know is the theme, of course you have to know Chinese culture too. Hope you find it interesting and entertaining.


http://chineseliondancers.webs.com/

http://chineseliondancers.webs.com/C...on_Dancing.htm

http://chineseliondancers.webs.com/p...the_greens.htm

[SleepingDragon]

I also created a facebook page for those interested under "Chinese Lion Dancers"

[SleepingDragon]

Hi Brothernumber9,

Thank you for your interest. I just got the picture and there were 9 lettuces hanging in a straight horizontal line. The middle one slightly higher. I can email you the picture if you like. All of them had a tangerine and a red envelope as well. My guess it that it is something traditional since someone we met there said that he knew how to play it. But there was no time for him to explain.

Regards, Lau

Did you ever learn of the theme of the green array? Is there anyway you can post a link to the picture or pictures?

[SleepingDragon]

I have never seen an array of 9 vegetables, so I can only guess. I can only think of two references I could try to draw from if I came upon that kind of cheng unexpectedly.
The first one, but that may not make too much sense, is that cantonese nine is gao, and the green is ching/chang/cheng. There is a layered dessert called jiu cheng gao, a nine layered cake, but I think that is mandarin. One way to eat it is to peel away one layer at a time.
The other is that in farming, an old practice is to section the farming area into 9 parts. The area in the middle is used to pay respect to heaven, ancestors, etc, sometimes referred to as heaven's acre.

Either way, I would start from the first green on the left ****hest from the center, then do the one on the right ****hest from center, and alternate, til you get to the middle green.

Nine also is a metaphor a long time- a reference regarding longevity. Lettuce is a metaphor for business and new wealth. Tangerines are a metaphor for gold. Was the lettuce lined up so that they went towards the store or parallel?

[TenTigers]

I have seen this array:
A chair with a pomelo, some oranges, choi, and a bowl of water/wine? How is this played?

[David Jamieson]

I have seen this array:
A chair with a pomelo, some oranges, choi, and a bowl of water/wine? How is this played?

Drink the wine, sit on the chair, peel all the fruit and eat it drunkenly, then take the money and leave.

Wait... that's how to be a bad house guest, lemme rethink this...

[Lau]

Hi,
This year we got the 9 hanging lettuces/oranges again, but we learned it's meaning. They were hanging in a row, parallel to the shop. but the height increased with each one. So the meaning was a stairway to luck. We started with the lowest one and then step by step we took the higher ones, thus climbing the stairs towards the luck for the shop owner.
Regards, Lau

[jdhowland]

Hi,
This year we got the 9 hanging lettuces/oranges again, but we learned it's meaning. They were hanging in a row, parallel to the shop. but the height increased with each one. So the meaning was a stairway to luck. We started with the lowest one and then step by step we took the higher ones, thus climbing the stairs towards the luck for the shop owner.
Regards, Lau

Sound logical once you know the answer.

I'm curious: Was the ascension from left-to-right, or right-to-left as in traditional writing? Toward or away from the main door?

[Lau]

Indeed it sounded very logical once we heard it. Standing in front of the shop and looking at it the lowest was on the left side. Highest on the right side above the shop entrance.