Kunghei fatchoy // Happiness and Prosperity!!

(The heading is a traditional New Year greeting in Cantonese. In Mandarin, it would be Gong hay fatchoy. C. grew up knowing the Cantonese way of greeting, hence my choice to use it here.)

Yesterday, C. and I celebrated the Chinese/Lunar New Year. The events were held at the Jewish Community Center in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. It was a unique blending of cultures. We saw dancers from China, Bhutan, Philippines, and Thailand. Perhaps the most interesting was the variations of the Lion Dance in different cultures.

In the Chinese tradition, the Lion Dance is traditionally that of a dragon. This one was orange/green, and was loud and flashy. Whereas in the Thai tradition, they have a similar dance, but theirs is an animal much more gentle-looking. I happened to catch two of the dancers after the performance, and they explained it was a cross between a deer, cow, duck, dragon, and lion. It was shaggy, and unlike with the tiger, all the young children wanted to pet it and dance with it. I tried to get photos of both dances, though we were sitting in one of the back rows, so they are somewhat blurry. Still, the below is from the Thai dance:

We also got our names written in Calligraphy. C., being half-Chinese on his mother's side, has a Chinese name. He was able therefore able to have it written, learning a new interpretation to the meaning. Seeing as I have English and Hebrew names, I wrote down my English first and middle names, and saw it re-interpreted into the Chinese characters. I also made a dragon, where you can blow through the construction-paper head, and the streamers representing the fire flutter, and C. made a traditional paper-cutting of 'double happiness'.

We also ate FANTASTIC Chinese Food for a late lunch. The restaurant was Schezhuan Gourmet (also in Squirrel Hill). I was highly amused to see the menu had both an "Authentic Chinese Menu" and "American Menu"; we both ordered off the "Authentic Chinese Menu". We have leftovers in our fridge. It was spicy and delicious.

During lunch, we also got a bonus performance of the Chinese Lion Dance. While eating, we saw the two dancers come into the restaurant, talk with a couple staff, walk around the space, walk out, only to come back several minutes later in complete costume!

The parade is in two weeks on February 12, so hopefully, there will be more photos!

We came home to the news of the Immigration Ban. So from a day celebrating diversity of cultures, and remembering there were times a celebration of Chinese New Year would not be welcome in the United States, we hear news of people being turned away at the U.S. borders. While a rather sour end to an otherwise beautiful day, hopefully, we can use it as a rallying point. To remember the diversity of culture in the United States is what makes our country so very special.