Happy Year of the Water Dragon! At least, that's what the newspapers here are calling this year of the Chinese zodiac.
With a day off of work, I spent the morning getting my hair cut and colored. I had done some research to see if there were a lion dance or dragon parade or something cultural like that we could take the boys to see -- but only coming up with large gatherings, I decided to pass. Large crowds just aren't my thing. And I couldn't figure out if our local Pasay City hall was going to have anything or not.
The Rockwell area near my salon did - I had just had my hair prepped, about to be colored, and was about 10 minutes into a foot spa pedicure (much more time efficient, combining these beauty treatments), when loud drums sounded outside. Two guys in a lion costume and about 20 people carrying a dragon-on-a-stick came around the corner. The dragon stayed outside, but the lion dancers came into the salon and all around. My own private lion dance!
After touring the premises, the lion backed out of the salon; I am wondering if going out forwards might be a bad omen, since it would turn its back to the establishment? The front guy in the lion then tried to reach up to get the little money envelope hanging above the doors. Unfortunately for him, he was short and the door was quite high. even with jumping he couldn't reach! The salon manager was about to bring out a step ladder, but then, still in lion costume, he jumped up on the other half of the lion (ie, the guy playing the hind quarters) and looked like a lion standing on his back legs. He reached his arm through the lion's mouth, grabbed the money envelope, jumped down, and then the whole entourage proceeded to the next establishment (a deli).
Needless to say, no camera on hand since I was expecting to only be at the salon. And, too bad Wm and Patch couldn't see. At least I felt like I experienced a little bit of Chinese New Year - and more of a "real" part than a "staged" version.
Here's my friend's version of the same event!
With a day off of work, I spent the morning getting my hair cut and colored. I had done some research to see if there were a lion dance or dragon parade or something cultural like that we could take the boys to see -- but only coming up with large gatherings, I decided to pass. Large crowds just aren't my thing. And I couldn't figure out if our local Pasay City hall was going to have anything or not.
The Rockwell area near my salon did - I had just had my hair prepped, about to be colored, and was about 10 minutes into a foot spa pedicure (much more time efficient, combining these beauty treatments), when loud drums sounded outside. Two guys in a lion costume and about 20 people carrying a dragon-on-a-stick came around the corner. The dragon stayed outside, but the lion dancers came into the salon and all around. My own private lion dance!
After touring the premises, the lion backed out of the salon; I am wondering if going out forwards might be a bad omen, since it would turn its back to the establishment? The front guy in the lion then tried to reach up to get the little money envelope hanging above the doors. Unfortunately for him, he was short and the door was quite high. even with jumping he couldn't reach! The salon manager was about to bring out a step ladder, but then, still in lion costume, he jumped up on the other half of the lion (ie, the guy playing the hind quarters) and looked like a lion standing on his back legs. He reached his arm through the lion's mouth, grabbed the money envelope, jumped down, and then the whole entourage proceeded to the next establishment (a deli).
Needless to say, no camera on hand since I was expecting to only be at the salon. And, too bad Wm and Patch couldn't see. At least I felt like I experienced a little bit of Chinese New Year - and more of a "real" part than a "staged" version.
Here's my friend's version of the same event!
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