-^-for posterity-^-

the fifth day of the year of the monkey.

last night i was invited to attend the new year’s celebration with the chinese self-help society. we celebrated tet in a very traditionally chinese way.

the celebration was held at the local chinese school and it started late in the afternoon. there was a grandstand set up and all the dignitaries sat in a neat row in front of banners covered with unintelligible chinese script. there were speeches that talked about the self-help society and what it did in the previous year. all the important guests were introduced and i stood up, clasped my two hands together and shook them to the right and left of my face as all the other ‘important’ people did when they were introduced.

after the speeches, there were dances by the local dragon dance team. the dances started with four tiger costumes manned by two people each. they would walk around the god of the earth, the one who was responsible for keeping base things stable and harmonious, and dance to him. the god of the earth wears a gigantic mask that is bright pink with red dots for cheeks. he carries a fan and waves it as the tigers pass. the tigers do a number of different things in time with the music. since there are two people controlling one tiger suit, the man in the back must crouch down. his job is to move his legs in aggressive ways. the man in the front controls the head. sometimes he pushes it high above his head and shakes it, other times he moves it from side to side. when they decide to get fancy, they can have the person in the front stand on the shoulder’s of the man behind him or they can roll on the ground in tandem. all of this is done to the rhythm of one large drum played by a fat man, six cymbals played by children and a gongish type of instrument.

the next dance is a man dancing on top of a large bamboo pole wearing a tiger suit. it is interesting but too repetitive.

the last dance is the dance with the actual tiger. there are about 10 people controlling the gigantic dragon which must stretch on for about 40 or 50 feet. they all have a large pole and must follow exactly what the person in front of them did. they run around and do about three or four different things. they can swing the head of the dragon from the ground on one side above their heads to the ground on the other side. when everyone is doing this in unison, the dragon looks like it’s writhing in incredible pain. the dance is very complicated.

then comes the meal. it is a very typically chinese meal, i am told. it looks very vietnamese to me but i am no expert. during the meal there are little children that are paraded about and made to sing. they look scared and they sing poorly but they are children so we all watch and dutifully clap.

the lunar new year celebration came from china originally and, like all bits of civilization that are imported by other cultures, when it came to vietnam, it was changes slightly. the difference is slight.