Chinese New Year

 The Chinese (or Lunar) New Year was in February and Jack and I went to Golden Gate Park to celebrate.

We camped out on the floor of an auditorium to watch a dance troupe of women who performed ethnic and folk dances from China, Mongolia, Tibet, and throughout Asia. They were dressed in colorful traditional costumes and danced to the rhythmic drumming of live musicians.

The dancing culminated in an amazing performance of "lion dancers". To me, they looked like the usual dragon dances that you often see in Chinatown where you have performers under a dragon costume. But I learned something interesting - the Chinese lion dances have two performers (one at the head and one in the back) whose faces are covered by the lion costume. In contrast, the dragon dances have multiple performers and their faces can be seen because the dragon is held up on poles.

Afterwards, we walked over to the Botanical Garden where an author was reading two children's books (we bought a book on the Year of the Ox which is Jack's sign, and a fun one called Julie's Black Belt) and then potted a plant for the new year.

CLICK HERE for more pictures of our Chinese New Year fun.








Lion dancers, not to be confused with Dragon dancers!