Today (January 22, 2023) marks the lunar New Year in Chinese culture, marked by many festivities and foods as the celebrants hope to usher in a year of prosperity and happiness. This reel and the following images show the New Year Lion Dance, an ancient tradition wherein people (often martial artists from a local school) dress up like lions and walk in a parade around local business establishments.
The “lions” dance around until they get to a spot where a merchant has hung lettuce and a red envelope (with a gift of money for the performers). At each of these points, the lions stop and pretend to eat the lettuce with lion-like viciousness (it’s called the “cai qing” or “plucking the lettuce”) and then “spit” it back to the crowds. Often, the parade is accompanied with dancers, drummers, and firecrackers. The whole thing is heaps of fun and done in the spirit of bringing good fortune: in Chinese, the words for “lettuce-like vegetable” and “fortune” are homonyms. The Lion Dance shown here took place in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, but numerous records show it extending back in time to the Tang Dynasty (618-906 CE) and likely earlier.
