This is how New Year's should be
Feb. 18th, 2007 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreaminghopeWith apologies to those buried in snow – I don't mean to gloat – but in Vancouver, the weather is on the verge of becoming Spring. Despite dire predictions of gloom and rain, we had sun today. The crocuses are up and there are buds on the trees, but nothing is open yet. The whole city is about to have its fresh start; it's a good time to welcome a New Year.
Living on the edge of Chinatown was very convenient for enjoying today's Lunar New Year celebration. Russ and I took Russ' parents to see the big parade. Last year's crowd was estimated at 50,000 people; it was probably even bigger this year.
I am in love with the Chinese Lions. I've always had a thing for bright colours and almost over-the-top theatrics, and they bobbed along with a life that seemed separate from the dancers that were in the costumes. Some made their Lions rear into the air – the head dancer would jumped up and down from the shoulders of the back dancer. And I especially loved the littlest Lions – some of whom were probably just eight or nine years old – who just make me giggle helplessly with the adorable-ness of it all. They were dancing as hard as they could, except when they got distracted by watching the adult Lions around them.
At every pause in the parade, where a gap would form between groups, there seemed to be someone in a "volunteer" hat, tossing firecrackers into the street. The smoke was drifting along the whole route. I never did figure out where the periodic showers of confetti – big squares of colourful streamers – came from. A tall man near me got beaned by a candy thrown from a flat bed truck where a Lion lounged, only his wagging tail indicating that anyone was inside.
I loved the big drums being pulled on trolleys, and the way the gongs and cymbals sent vibrations right through me.
The little boy in front of me, who was visiting Vancouver from the Yukon, had handfuls of hard candies and of red envelopes with chocolate coins in them by the end of the parade. His mother received a fortune cookie; her fortune said "Happy New Year from Stephen Harper*". She carefully put the fortune in her wallet to take home with her. The hard candies were just sweet, with no real flavour.
Sometimes, we could have been in China. Sometimes, we could only have been in Vancouver. Amongst the Benevolent Societies and the Chinese Free Masons, the Lions and the Dragons, and the martial arts displays and traditional dance groups from all over the Eastern world, there were also the Asian Line Dancers (in vaguely Eastern dress with vaguely authentic cowboy hats), the Brazilian dancers in stomach-baring and frilly outfits handing out fliers for their Carnival next weekend, the hippy pick-up band of drums and horns that plays at Illuminares every year, and a couple of First Nations groups drumming and chanting.
We escaped the chaos of post-parade Chinatown for a late lunch. It was a little tricky freeing ourselves from the milling masses after the parade. We ended up completely encircled, with the crowds and the parade between us and home. We finally "salmoned" our way through an area that looked thinner than everywhere else. Then, to one of my very favourite restaurants: a vegetarian Chinese restaurant called Bo Kong.
Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to the Year of the Pig!
*For non-Canadian-philes, Stephen Harper is our current prime minister.
Living on the edge of Chinatown was very convenient for enjoying today's Lunar New Year celebration. Russ and I took Russ' parents to see the big parade. Last year's crowd was estimated at 50,000 people; it was probably even bigger this year.
I am in love with the Chinese Lions. I've always had a thing for bright colours and almost over-the-top theatrics, and they bobbed along with a life that seemed separate from the dancers that were in the costumes. Some made their Lions rear into the air – the head dancer would jumped up and down from the shoulders of the back dancer. And I especially loved the littlest Lions – some of whom were probably just eight or nine years old – who just make me giggle helplessly with the adorable-ness of it all. They were dancing as hard as they could, except when they got distracted by watching the adult Lions around them.
At every pause in the parade, where a gap would form between groups, there seemed to be someone in a "volunteer" hat, tossing firecrackers into the street. The smoke was drifting along the whole route. I never did figure out where the periodic showers of confetti – big squares of colourful streamers – came from. A tall man near me got beaned by a candy thrown from a flat bed truck where a Lion lounged, only his wagging tail indicating that anyone was inside.
I loved the big drums being pulled on trolleys, and the way the gongs and cymbals sent vibrations right through me.
The little boy in front of me, who was visiting Vancouver from the Yukon, had handfuls of hard candies and of red envelopes with chocolate coins in them by the end of the parade. His mother received a fortune cookie; her fortune said "Happy New Year from Stephen Harper*". She carefully put the fortune in her wallet to take home with her. The hard candies were just sweet, with no real flavour.
Sometimes, we could have been in China. Sometimes, we could only have been in Vancouver. Amongst the Benevolent Societies and the Chinese Free Masons, the Lions and the Dragons, and the martial arts displays and traditional dance groups from all over the Eastern world, there were also the Asian Line Dancers (in vaguely Eastern dress with vaguely authentic cowboy hats), the Brazilian dancers in stomach-baring and frilly outfits handing out fliers for their Carnival next weekend, the hippy pick-up band of drums and horns that plays at Illuminares every year, and a couple of First Nations groups drumming and chanting.
We escaped the chaos of post-parade Chinatown for a late lunch. It was a little tricky freeing ourselves from the milling masses after the parade. We ended up completely encircled, with the crowds and the parade between us and home. We finally "salmoned" our way through an area that looked thinner than everywhere else. Then, to one of my very favourite restaurants: a vegetarian Chinese restaurant called Bo Kong.
Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to the Year of the Pig!
*For non-Canadian-philes, Stephen Harper is our current prime minister.
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 06:31 am (UTC)I swear I'm up to my ass in snow...
and the fact that the prime minister of a country would post greetings inside of a fortune cookie to celebrate the chinese new year...
gah...we'd be lucky if our prez even said something non-foreign affairs-ish...
oh well, glad to hear you enjoyed the festivities with such great weather :-D
no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 04:26 am (UTC)See, that's such an optimistic take! I don't like Harper - though he isn't as bad as Bush - so all I could think was "political propaganda in a fortune cookie - typical!"
We really lucked out with the weather.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 06:01 pm (UTC)That sounds like it was really cool. Something I've always admire about you is the way you notice the emotion of a situation. I go to parades and see.... floats. Then I go home.
Bo Kong is da shizzle. We should go again....
no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 04:30 am (UTC)Walked to work in it. Took me four hours to dry back out. Sigh.
Thanks! I have been deliberately cultivating that as part of my efforts to become a better writer.
I'm think Bo Kong for an informal birthday gathering in a couple of weeks. Details will be forthcoming!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-20 06:08 am (UTC)Bean Curd!
Date: 2007-03-01 06:51 pm (UTC)Re: Bean Curd!
Date: 2007-03-03 07:25 am (UTC)Re: Bean Curd!
Date: 2007-03-03 04:14 pm (UTC)Cheers!