Saturday went fairly well. Lion Dance responsibilities kept me from teaching as is my usual schedule. Our Lion Dance troupe had it's first ever New Year's event. Considering the number of people in the store and the length of the show, the poor sods having to dance in the lion did extremely well.
The show ran almost an hour from beginning to end. We had two lions inside a very packed T & T Supermarket. There was barely room to breathe, let alone dance around.
The beginning was hasty. Though we had been told the start time was 11:45am, they decided we should start at 11:30 instead. A slight problem with that - we were missing one Lion head. We had the actual head, we just needed to body to go in it. There was barely time for him to get dressed before the ceremony began.
The first part of the ceremony began with the Eye Dotting. Don't know what that is? Neither did I before last week. Red liquid is placed onto the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth and down the back of the Lion for good luck. The red liquid used to be rooster's blood. You'll be happy to know, they don't used that any more. They use a red stone that has a sizable amount of mercury in it. We're all slowly going insane.
In any case, the rest of the dance was fairly routine, just very, very, very, very long. As I was a girl, and not allowed in the Lion with a boy, the four people in the Lions had to do the entire hour long show.
Like our Kung Fu, our Lion Dance troupe is traditional, not the new style. The Lions are longer, the heads heavier, and the movements are much more aggressive. We're not cutesy Lions; each movement is martial and is supposed to have martial intent.
That is why the show was so exhausting for the performers.
Having been kicked out of the Lion, I was to play the cymbals or gong. However, they didn't bring enough. So, I was demoted once more to puller of the drum trolley. It was surprisingly hard work.
At first, the drum kept falling off. So I had to bend down and drag the trolley from the base (no, we didn't bring rope). To spare my back, I crouched down and walked backwards. That's not easy. My glutes are still hurting.
There were many errors, but for our first real performance, I think we did alright. We'll hear about it from our resident expert K.C. I'm afraid...
Sunday was equal parts restful and productive. I went grocery shopping (finally!), did some cooking and washed a huge load of dishes before settling in with friends to watch Supernatural. Then we settled in to watch Glee after the Superbowl.
It was like a zombie double rainbow.
Gleeks will understand that pun.
I was up super early this morning, so I went back to bed to snooze, but didn't really sleep.
Despite all that, I feel pretty good, actually. Perhaps I'll make a habit of getting up this early more often!
I think I've bored you enough with my weekend. Her's today's Forgotten English word/phrase:
Pig's Whisper:
A very short space of time.
- Jon Bee's Slang: A Dictionary, 1823
Synonymous with "cockstride," a cock's tread.
- John Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887
You'll find yourself in bed in something less than a pig's whisper.
- Charles Dickens' Pipwick Papers, 1837
Speaking of Charles Dickens, it's his birthday today. Happy Birthday, Mr. Dickens!
I'm running late, I must get writing.
4 comments:
This is fascinating! I happened to be downtown this weekend, and I saw another lion dance. They came down this alley full of markets and ate lettuce that the owners had hung up above the entrances. It was fun!
And I like Pig's whisper! I'm not sure I can get away with using it, but it'll be good to remember if I ever encounter it in someone else's writing.
Hi Domey!
Thanks for dropping by.
I note that you're in L.A. I was about to have a fit before I noticed that. Up here in Canada, doing a Lion Dance down an alley would probably give us all frostbite at this time of year!
I very much enjoy being part of the Lion Dance troupe here. We're fairly new at it, so we have lots to improve upon!
Of course you could get away with using pig's whisper! Just put in a character with typically odd or archaic turns of phrase and you'll have an excuse!
I have to say, this Forgotten English calendar was the best Christmas present I've had in a long time! I love some of the words it comes up with!
I'm tempted to use the phrase at work... "I'll get that docket to you within a pig's whisper." It could be fun. Or they'll have me locked up. I've discovered federal servants have a strange sense of humour...
Oooh! You totally have to use it!
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