Year of the Dragon

Chinese New Year is coming up! It's on January 23rd to be exact =) The celebrations have already begun in Chinatown. My family decided to get out of the house on Friday night to check out the Lion Dance and other offerings at the Cultural Plaza.

There were quite a few food vendors there. Too bad we had just eaten dinner before we went out. Everything smelled and look delicious! Look at these chicken kebobs. YUM. 

Of course all my little brother wanted was sweets, so we let him indulge in some cotton candy =D

There aren't a lot of food photos to share... a lot of it wasn't really Chinese anyway. For instance, there was a vendor selling crepes and another vendor selling Greek food. But just as we were leaving we did see something different that caught our attention. These ladies were pulling what looked like really fine noodles covered in what appeared to be flour and wrapping them around some sort of peanut and coconut mixture.

Apparently the really fine noodles were made of corn syrup! These women skillfully pulled these round molds of corn syrup and transformed them into thin noodles within minutes! These snacks are called Dragon Whiskers Candy. Really sweet, really messy, and really worth trying at least once. You need to eat these right away because the corn syrup will not stay in the noodle form beyond a day.

There were actually three or four lion dances during the two hours that we were there. The largest one actually came out into the audience to interact with everyone.

See his long body? Getting this photo was tricky because I had to place my phone above my head and everyone else's to try and get this shot. It turned out pretty well considering I was taking a blind shot. Don't worry, I get closer to him.

Ooops, maybe a little too close? Nah, gotta rub him for good luck. 

There was a woman taking money out of the lion's mouth as people were putting them in. I don't know if you're supposed to make a wish when you give the money or the reasoning behind the monetary offering... Can anyone tell me? I don't really know much about Chinese New Year and its traditions =/

My sister is into feng shui and my mom believes in it, too, so they really loved this vendor carrying good luck charms for pretty decent prices. 

Look at those dragon puppets! Next time I'll take one home :) 

While my sister and mom were shopping, I was mesmerized by another lion dance: the main show that everyone had been waiting for. If not for the people around me making comments during the show I might not have understood what was going on.

Apparently, the lion finds a jug of wine and is curious about it so he starts playing around with it. He then goes and drinks the entire jug of wine without any hesitation and complete satisfaction. Of course, this makes him completely drunk and unable to walk properly anymore. He then goes on to do a few acrobatic stunts before saying goodbye, lol

The two guys in the costume are really skilled at what they do because they were hopping, skipping, dancing, and jumping around on top of those raised posts as if they were truly one body. I'm always in awe of people who can do special stunts and make it look so easy and effortless. Who knows how much time had actually been put into making sure the act happened flawlessly. 

After this main show, an entire group of lions came out into the crowd to greet everyone and collect and last offerings people wanted to make. Here's a shot of everyone who made the entire show a success.

Maybe one day I'll be up there, too! haha

That was a great way to end the weekend and spend some quality time with my family. It was great that there was a little bit of everything for everyone to enjoy. My little brother even got to play with some firecrackers. 

I love that the new year is still being celebrated. Honestly, why should we limit the celebration to just the very first day of the year. Why not the entire first month? Maybe then everyone will stay enthusiastic about their goals and resolutions a little longer :)

Blogging on a regular basis is not easy, but here I am! Keeping up with one of my resolutions for the year. I have no idea if this post made any sense because I'm actually quite exhausted and my eyes are heavy, so until next time... A hui hou (So long)!