Lion dance is part of Chinese New Year celebration. There are Chinese families who would pay for Lion dance performance at their residence or business premises. Whenever my family passes by houses with lion dance, my dad would stop the car nearby and we would watch. Mostly, we only watch the backside of lions besides the crowd. This Chinese New Year, I was lucky to watch a lion dance ‘performance’ at a business premise.
Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in the Chinese culture where the performers mimic the lion’s movements in lion’s costume. There will be at least ten people involved. Two dancers will form the head and the body of the Lion. Others will provide the music. Each will be playing the drum, cymbals and gong. Two people will guide the movement of the lions.
The Lion dance is suppose to chase away evil spirit and bring good luck and fortune.
The owner of the residence or business premise would prepare a plate filled will lettuce, cabbage and mandarin oranges for the lion to consume. The ‘lion’ would take its time to cut and arrange the lettuce, cabbage and oranges nicely. In return, the lion would receive a red packet at reward.
I don’t see the Lion dance losing its value in time to come as there are many Chinese who still believe that lion dance brings auspiciousness to their business and family. It may be affected by the world economic crisis as their reward for each dance may cost as much as RM500 especially on the first day of Chinese New Year.
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