On Saturday we went to downtown Hilo to take part in their 10th annual Chinese New Year celebration in this year of the dragon. It was raining a little, but we still were able to witness the blessing of several establishments downtown, which was pretty cool.
According to Wikipedia: "During the
Chinese New Year, lion dancer troupes from the Chinese martial art schools or Chinese guild and associations will visit the houses and shops of the Chinese community to perform the traditional custom of "cai ching" (採青), literally means "plucking the greens", a quest by the 'lion' to pluck the auspicious green normally 'vegetables' like lettuce which in Chinese called 'cái'(菜)that sound like 'cái'(财)(fortune) and auspicious fruit like oranges tied to a
"Red Envelope" containing money; either hang highly or just put on a table in front of the premises. The "lion" will dance and approach the "green" and "red evelope" like a curious cat, to "eat the green" and "spit" it out leave it in a nice arrangement, like an auspicious character but keep the "red envelope". The lion dance is believed to bring good luck and fortune to the business and the troupe is rewarded with the "red envelope".
The smoke you see here is the result of a 10 foot long string of firecrackers that scared the bejeezus out of Henry. Luckily there was a door open to a stairwell nearby, so we could get a little relief from the concussions as well as the extremely loud drumming; however, we still had to cover our ears.
Inside one of the stores, the dragon dancers do some acrobatic moves.
On Saturday we went to downtown Hilo to take part in their 10th annual Chinese New Year celebration in this year of the dragon. It was raining a little, but we still were able to witness the blessing of several establishments downtown, which was pretty cool.
According to Wikipedia: "During the Chinese New Year, lion dancer troupes from the Chinese martial art schools or Chinese guild and associations will visit the houses and shops of the Chinese community to perform the traditional custom of "cai ching" (採青), literally means "plucking the greens", a quest by the 'lion' to pluck the auspicious green normally 'vegetables' like lettuce which in Chinese called 'cái'(菜)that sound like 'cái'(财)(fortune) and auspicious fruit like oranges tied to a "Red Envelope" containing money; either hang highly or just put on a table in front of the premises. The "lion" will dance and approach the "green" and "red evelope" like a curious cat, to "eat the green" and "spit" it out leave it in a nice arrangement, like an auspicious character but keep the "red envelope". The lion dance is believed to bring good luck and fortune to the business and the troupe is rewarded with the "red envelope".
The smoke you see here is the result of a 10 foot long string of firecrackers that scared the bejeezus out of Henry. Luckily there was a door open to a stairwell nearby, so we could get a little relief from the concussions as well as the extremely loud drumming; however, we still had to cover our ears.
Inside one of the stores, the dragon dancers do some acrobatic moves.
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