Lion Dance is an essential New Year celebration in Hong Kong.
Lion Dances and Dragon Parades are an essential part of every Chinese New Year celebration, or rather, ANY Chinese Festival for that matter, and in Hong Kong that is no exception.
In fact, the city set a Guinness World Record in 2011 for the largest Lion and Dragon Dance display which featured 1,111 Dragons and Lions. This gave way to a fantastic yearly event, the Hong Kong Dragon and Lion Dance Festival which takes place every year on New Year’s Day January 1st, (NOT Chinese New Year’s Day) and is an explosion of color, glitter, and roars with hundreds of troupes parading throughout the streets…
These traditional arts date back for more than a thousand years. Besides being incredible acrobatic performances, in Chinese Culture it is believed that the Lions and the accompanying revelry of drums, gongs, and firecrackers, will scare away the bad spirits and bring in the good luck in the coming year, and thus a Lion Dance is a “must” during the Chinese New Year festivities.
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/VT56RUfKvdA
- https://www.hong-kong-traveller.com/hong-kong-chinese-new-year-lion-dance.html
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