Photos of a Lion Dance During the August Moon Festival

Last Sunday, we took the children to their first August Moon Festival in Boston's Chinatown.  It was the first one I had been to myself for a very long time.  As a child, I remember there being huge crowds of people, lion dances right on the street, booming drums, and pieces of red paper all over the streets from the many much-too-loud firecrackers.  Our children's experiences were very different.  There was a stage set up for all the performers to use and there were no firecrackers at all.

Even though there were different groups performing for the entire festival, such as dancers and martial arts students, we only watched a performance of one of the lion dances.  The children had seen a lion dance once before during a local Chinese New Years event for children last year.  That performance was held indoors and the drums sounded much louder than they did at this outdoor performance, much to their relief.


I hope you enjoy a few of the photos I took of the performance . . .

(Click any photo to enlarge)

In addition to the lion dance, the children enjoyed walking through the main streets that were lined with street vendors selling everything from beta fish to Chinese fans to bamboo plants to die-cast double-decker tour buses.  We also ate lunch at a tiny little restaurant located in the basement of a building called Cafe de Lulu.  What the restaurant lacked in ambiance, it made up for in delicious home cooked food.  The family that owned the restaurant was very hospitable.  Then we remembered to stop by the Ho Yuen Bakery for some baked char siu bao, don tarts, and creme-filled cakes before we headed home.  I think we made some great memories that day.

Photos of The Chinese New Year Lion Dance

As a February school vacation treat, a school in one of our surrounding towns hosted a free event in honor of Chinese New Year.  The main attraction was to be a lion dance by the Boston Chinese Freemasons.  I remember watching lion dances when I was little in the streets of Boston's Chinatown.  The drums and the firecrackers were terribly loud for my little ears.  That is why we have not taken our little ones yet.  This show seemed like the perfect opportunity for them to watch a traditional lion dance in a controlled environment, where they were less likely to become overwhelmed.  They had read about such dances in children's books about Chinese New Year, so they were already somewhat familiar with it.  They soon learned that reading about the lion dance in a book does not compare to experiencing one in person.

The show started a bit late and the natives were starting to get restless . . . 

We received a brief introduction about Chinese New Year . . . 

Before the lion dance commenced, we heard a story illustrated by shadow puppets.  Then it was time to wake the lion . . . 

The drummers and the dancers did an excellent job engaging both the children and the adults . . . 

All three of our children enjoyed the lion dance very much.  Our preschoolers thought the lion was a bit scary, but still very cool.  Only our 4 year old son accepted the invitation to gently pet the lion after the show.

The entire show lasted less than 45 minutes, but I think it helped to create some fun memories for our children.