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Saturday February 15, 2003 Lantern Festival (15th Day of Chinese New Year) Chinese New Year is always a fun, festive and frenetic time of year for a kung fu school; it is the primary traditional season for lion and dragon dancing for various businesses, events and institutions. Chinese New Year is also the most common time for a wushu school to add new lions to their family. For the Chinese year 4700, we added our first baby lion, Haoqi. Haoqi (pronounced how-chee) means "full of curiosity" -- someone fond of the unusual. Haoqi himself is pretty unusual. If you'd have suggested we might choose an orange and silver lion, there would have been much laughter. Orange and what?!? Yuk! But when little Haoqi came to us with a way-too-narrow body, no other color seemed to fit. As always, Dorothy Stender came to the rescue -- not only suggesting the flashy silver coloring, but coming up with an explanation for it. You see, Haoqi's adult coat would be silver, and it's only just coming in beneath his orange baby fuzz -- rather like the white feathers that replace yellow duck fuzz. Far more importantly, Dorothy sewed the entire thing together: pants, tail and collar -- and under a punishing deadline, too, bless her little heart! We think the result is cute as heck. |
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Tradition holds that each lion shall have an
eye-opening ceremony, in which the lion is symbolically "awakened" so that
it may act as a guardian against evil.
(right) Little Haoqi awaits his awakening. |
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It is always an honor to be chosen as one of
those who will "dot the lion" with the red mixture. Dignitaries,
special guests, people who have made exceptional contributions to the school
are typical candidates.
(left) The ever-enthusiastic Super Volunteer Dorothy Stender is called upon to dot Haoqi's mirror. The mirror is an especially important part, as legend has it that the mirror is used by the lion to frighten away evil. |
| (right) Senior student Amir Shirkhorshidian comes forward to dot the eyes. |
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(left) Tammy Padilla dots Haoqi's nostrils. |
| (right) Troy came dressed up to the Martial Artistry Chinese New Year Celebration -- and promptly got shanghaied when the Birdmobile resisted all attempts to get it started. Troy instantly located the problem, a short in the starter, and had a new starter installed in time deal with the banquet tables -- and to dot Haoqi's mouth. |
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(left) Special guest Jake Burroughs dotted the lion's ears -- and later performed several traditional kung fu forms to help us celebrate the new Year of the Ram. |
| (right) Ree McSween dots Haoqi's horn. Ree was instrumental in the construction of another lion, Haoqi's "mother", Piao Liang. |
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(left) The enthusiastic and dependable April Littlejohn dots Haoqi's back. |
| (right) With a yawn, Haoqi begins to awaken ... |
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(left) ... shaking the sleep from his eyes ... |
| (right) ... stretching with much gusto ... |
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(left) ... and starting to take note of his surroundings. |
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(right) Haoqi is sprinkled
with tea as he receives his name.
Heard during the explanation of the meaning of the characters forming Haoqi's name: "... fond of the unusual -- he'll get plenty of that around here!" |
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(left) A red ribbon is
tied around Haoqi's horn, with the admonition: "May you remember, and we
remember: do only good." (below) Haoqi pays his respects to the Wu Jia -- that is, the Wu family -- by bowing three times. "The Chinese do not worship their ancestors, but rather respect and remember them. It reminds us to be humble, for what we have achieved so often has been built upon the foundation laid by those who came before us." |
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(right) Haoqi heads
toward the audience to get acquainted...
(below) ... and much to everyone's delight, jumps right up on the table and starts to dance! Well, almost everyone was delighted. Charlotte (red shirt, left of Haoqi) seems a tad nervous. Maybe she should be -- those tables were none-too-steady! |
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(left) And one cute and happy
baby lion joins the fold. How can the Martial Artistry family fail to
have a joyful and prosperous Year of the Ram?
Questions? Comments?
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