Lions all the rage in CNY Brunei

Members of the troupe set the beat. Photo: Rosli Abidin Yahya

Lion strikes a pose. Photos: Cedrina Norlaila A Clark

Children gather to greet a lion

It is common practice everywhere in the globe that the Chinese community celebrates the Chinese New Lunar Year 2003 with a Lion dance performance to welcome the Year of the Ram and bid the Year of the Horse farewell.

Lion dances continued to be the main spectacle at the homes of the Chinese community in Brunei into the third and fourth day of Chinese New Year.

Such dances, a traditional Chinese ritual performed during the Chinese Year, would usually feature two men - costumed in a large ornamental artificial lion head and body - performing dance routines designed to bring good luck and prosperity to the occupants of the house.

Other dancers would meanwhile beat gongs, cymbals and drums, while the rest of the lion dance troupe perform acrobatic displays.

Lions were seen pulling crowds all over the country this year, especially in performances held at Chinese schools throughout the country.

Some kampong lion troupes also performed in the Belait District.

At one of the homes recently, members of the family at the house lit firecrackers and threw them near the lion to attract the attention of benevolent spirits and to frighten away evil spirits.

A few minutes later, the lion dancers were seen reaching up high to take “ang pows” or fruits and vegetables hanging from the balcony.

Their lion dance would be completed as soon as they’ve taken the ang pow, and the whole troupe would move away to other houses in the neighbourhood.

In turn the homeowner would then give ang pows to every individual in the lion dance troupe.

At another house in Kampong Bahru, Seria, a lion even jumped high on poles and peeled the skin of a pomelo given by the landlord.

The lion jumped further up on the higher stilts to reach the salad vegetable and eat it, flinging it as high as it could before grabbing a red ang pow filled with money.

The lion tail was seen shaking and its eyes flickering away in a very fluid and realistic motion.

The lions even went to every room in the house running and bowing to chase the bad spirits away and to bring in good luck.

Children too were seen happily watching the performance, with some closing their ears at the festive noise.

The lion dance culture is very much a standard fixture in the Chinese community.

For them, the New Year celebration is the most important and longest of all Chinese festivals, traditionally lasting for two weeks.

Fortune tellers say that this year will bring in good fortune and a prosperous Chinese New Lunar Year and hopefully that it will help the country steer itself out of the slow economic crisis last year into a better, more prosperous new year.

During this period, houses can be seen fully decorated with coloured lanterns, floral displays, and brightly coloured banners emblazoned with New Year greetings.

Preparations traditionally begin at home in the week before the New Year, when families thoroughly clean their houses to symbolically sweep away all traces of past misfortunes.

Debts are usually paid off, doors and windowpanes painted with a new coat of red paint, and homes are decorated inside out with flowers, banners and lanterns.

To avoid bad luck, parents usually warn their children to be on their best behaviour and to avoid the use of vulgar expressions.

Another feature of Chinese New Year is the lighting up of fireworks.

Commencing on New Year’s Eve, the fireworks usually last until dawn, although celebrants may sporadically light more fireworks for the next two weeks.

The two-week celebration usually culminates in a lantern festival, an event in which merchants hang lighted paper lanterns outside their shops.