This week my friends Susan and Jane and I went up into the New Territories to check out a place that makes amazing shopping bags out of rice sacks, plastic storage materials and fabric scraps. I have one of her shopping bags and it gets comments and compliments all the time. Sarah saw it when she was in Hong Kong and decided that she had to have one also. We’re thinking of making her shop an AWA tour, and since I won’t be here to do it Susan and Jane, who are also enamored with her bags, came along to check it out with me.
Her name is Annalisa and her business is called Bez&Oho. You can look at her bags and jewelry on the web: http://homepage.mac.com/annalisa44/PhotoAlbum10.html. She also makes enamel jewelry and teaches enameling classes. AWA is going to take full advantage of her skills!
She employs women whose lives have been affected by drug addiction. They are either recovering drug addicts themselves, or the mothers, wives or children of drug addicts. She shares the space where she works with an organization in Hong Kong called the Saint Stephens Society. There’s not a lot of information about it on the web, but it’s a charity that’s recognized by the Hong Kong government. The woman that runs it is somewhat unusual: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Pullinger.
Now what does all of this have to do with Lion Dances? Did you think I maybe got the title of this entry wrong? J Well after visiting the beautiful bags it was time for lunch. Since we were up by Kowloon Tong we decided to go to Festival Walk, one of my favorite malls in this city. As we walked into the mall, there was some very loud clanging and drumming going on and we soon found out why – there was a Lion Dance happening in the mall! Now this wasn’t just a demonstration for tourists. For one thing, there aren’t any tourists up in Kowloon Tong; its not on the tourist trail. For another, Hong Kongers take this sort of thing seriously. The lion was going from shop to shop. At the top of the doorway of each shop was something green that apparently was lion food. The lion would dance around (it’s a two man contraption, kind of like a horse costume but the lion’s head is very elaborate) and then the lion would rise up on his “hind” legs and “eat” whatever it was that was up there for him. Then he would go to the next shop and the whole thing would be repeated. A small army of drummers accompanied the lion on his rounds, making an unholy racket in the echoing corridors of the mall.
And there wasn’t just one lion, there were two, or maybe three. It’s a large mall and there were a lot of shops to get through!
I wanted to understand better what was going on so I decided to Google “lion dances Hong Kong”. The lion dance is supposed to bring good luck and good fortune to each business the lion visits during Chinese New Year. The following is from Wikipedia:
“During the Chinese New Year, lion dancers from martial art school will visit the store front of businesses to "choi chang" (採青 lit. picking the greens). The business would tie a red envelope filled with money to a head of lettuce and hang it high above the front door. The lion will approach the lettuce like a curious cat, consume the lettuce and spit out the leaves but not the money. The lion dance is supposed to bring good luck and fortune to the business and the dancers receive the money as reward. The tradition becomes a mutual transaction.”
Well I’m all for good luck and good fortune and goodness knows we could all use a little of that right now but I’m telling you that lion dance was LOUD! As the lion grew closer at times we could hardly carry on a conversation! And this is a really nice, fancy mall. The whole experience was a little surreal. The Chinese seemed to take it all in stride. They continued their shopping, eating and ice skating (there’s an ice skating rink in this mall) but when the lion grew close they would drag their children over to get a better view. The kids either liked the lion (think 8 year old boys) or thought it was loud and a bit terrifying (anyone below the age of about 4).
I guess it’s safe to say this is something I won’t be running into when I go to Barton Creek Mall once we’re back in the US!
It’s a beautiful sunny Sunday here in Hong Kong. Its nice outside, and not too hot or too cold. Lee is still in the US, getting the house worked on and visiting our moms in Missouri. I miss him and he won’t be back until Friday night. I ran an easy five miles this morning and then went to pick up my runner’s packet for the Hong Kong Half Marathon next weekend. I’m definitely ready for this race. If my time is anywhere near as good as it was while running today I will be very, very happy. But we’ll see!
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