Last Sunday, Meghan and myself went to one of the many weekend lion dances that are held in Philadelphia's Chinatown in celebration of the Chinese New Year. These celebrations are fun as hell, with earthshaking firecrakers, loud drums and tons of lion tossed lettuce (ooohhhh!). Here you'll find a pretty comprehensive guide to the Chinese New Year. It states that:
"The dramatic climax of the Lion Dance is the "CaiQing" or 'Picking the Green'. The green here refers to vegetable leaves which are tied to a piece of string which also has a red packet attached containing money. The string is hung above the door of the house or business, and the lion 'eats' both leaves and red packet. Lying on the floor the leaves are 'chewed' by the dragon while the musicians play a dramatic rolling crescendo. The lull is broken as the lion explodes back into activity while spitting out the leaves. This is a symbolic act of blessing by the lion, with the spitting out of the leaves signifying that there will be an abundance of everything in the coming year. "
Here's some pics. Watch for the little kid with the lion mask who they let get some lettuce. Also there's a picture of the Bazaar where Meghan got those cool pictures from. Check, check it out.
Not sure what that fine is about, just make sure you don't do that when your there.
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