Lantern Festival and Lion Dance

Lantern Festival and Lion Dance

I am gifted to live in a foreign land with different cultures. I enjoy participating in Chinese Lantern Festival, here in Singapore. My kids take the paper lantern and go around the void decks and Multipurpose Hall with their neighbourhood friends. Fireworks, Crackers and Candle-Play are yet another enjoyment.

HDB (Housing Development Board - Government built apartment buildings) blocks are epitome of the racial harmony in Singapore. I like the mixture of noises and aroma from different houses in HDB. The Malay mee goreng aroma, Chinese soup aroma, Indian fried food aroma mixed with all the take-away food which most of them carry home, gives a unique blend of smell to our HDB Kampong.

The Mahjong play noise, football noise being played int the banned areas, screechy common litter bin, non-stop announcements from lifts, footsteps, locking and unlocking of doors, relaxed chats of old uncles and aunties, kiddies play during school holidays, garang guni man – All these make me think that my ever silent HDB is still ever alive.

Chinese pray God with utmost sincerity. They make a lot of offerings. We have been to Chinese temples and had a chance to observe their prayers very closely. Lion Dance performed in temple during festivals is meticulous. Every moment is filled with thrill. The dance is believed to usher good fortune, as well as ward off evil spirits. The lion dance calls for perfect co-ordination, elegance and nerves of steel. Two dancers are usually needed to give life to a "lion" - one to control the movements of the head, eyes and mouth; the other to act as the body. The first dancer that controls the head determines the movements, while the second must work in tandem with him. The quick flickering eyelids, wagging tail and side to side movement make all the kids dumb-fold. The performance on the poles is a note-worthy one.