Mid-Autumn Festival

Friday night I went to the Mid-Autumn Festival at Towson. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a harvest festival celebrated by the Chinese and Vietnamese cultures.  Mooncakes are eaten, tea is made, lanterns are floated, and usually there is a fire dragon dance. Since there aren’t any dragon dancing clubs at Towson, the closest thing was the Lion Dancing group at Johns Hopkins. The Lion Dance is a completely different dance than the Dragon Dance. Two people are in each lion costume, as opposed to the many people in the dragon costume.

When the lions came out, it was pretty loud. Drums and symbols were played as the two lions walked around the room. The audience “feeds” the lions red envelopes which are supposed to bring good luck and fortune. Towards the end of the dance, the lions spit out lettuce or cabbage (I couldn’t really tell what it was) to spread the good luck and wealth to the people. At the very end of the dance, a scroll of good luck unfolds from the lion’s mouth. It was a pretty crazy experience, especially since the lions get right in your face and their ears, mouths, eyes, and tails actually move! I think it’s definitely something to go to next year, even if you only go once.