Remember how lion and also the noise from the drums and firecrackers cast away the monster Nian last time from invading the villages?
This is still a common practice until today in the Chinese community; businessmen practised this to ensure good business flow and wealth.
It is also a skill and a unique martial art to be able to perform the lion dance well though there are many out there who are just there to earn a living (some do not even know the steps, etc). It is a dying art and we are getting more and more amateurs and youngsters who do not even know the skill just doing it for the sake of extra pocket money/allowance.
Granny engaged 2 troupes this year; one was just a last minute call-in and comprised of a bunch of really young boys who were even nudging and talking to each other during the performance. They wanted to have a go at performing with the lion head; justification came later from my aunt that those performers with the lion head typically get slightly more in their allowances. Hahaha.....young boys; they really want the lion head that they kept nudging and motioning to their friend to let them have a go.
This first troupe was really amateur and the entire performance was kinda short; about 5-10minutes. (More pics to be shared later)
The 2nd troupe was more professional; with 2 lions this round and they gave a really good performance. Turned out that the supervisor of the troupe was an old family friend of granny's...haha, what a small small world:pThey even formed words using the mandarin oranges offered and it was pretty nice.
However, due to the length of this performance as well, I was late for my meeting with my uni friends who came to Penang :(
Will share more pics on the lion dance soon...
Sang Choy(Lettuce) - an essential for lion dance....haha, vegetarian Lion?
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