Hi there!

I recenlty subscribed myself to your list, but never heard anything anymore. Nor did/do I receive no e-mails from other subscribers.

Therefore I rather send my e-mail to you instead of to the list as such.

My name is Armel mouque and liv in Amsterdam/Netherlands. I'm a student at the Amsterdam Wushu Academy and practise Liu He Men, Tai Chi Chuan and H'sing Yi. Our school is also very busy with liondance (every year with New Year and various openings of shops etc.).

My question is what is known on the history of Liondance, where does it come from?

My second question is: what is the difference between the Southern and Northern Lion (and Peking Lion)?

I hope you can help me finding the answers or direct me to other places on the Web where I can find information.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Armel Mouque

Hello Armel

You're right, there hasn't been much activity on the lion dance mailing list. Maybe it's because the members are all so busy lion dancing this time of the year! Hopefully it isn't because everyone has run out of questions!

Your first question was about the history of lion dance and where it comes from. Lion dancing is so old, that there are several stories of how it originated. One deals with how an ancient emperor was given a pet lion from travelers from Africa, and after it died the emperor's court did its best to create a creature like that lion to perform for the emperor. Another story says that the emperor had a dream about a magnificent powerful beast. After waking he commanded artists to fabricate a similar creature, going only by their imaginations and the emperor's description. Yet another story tells of farmers plagued by a marauding nocturnal beast which devoured their crops. They came up with the idea that if they made an even bigger creature and accompanied it with the loud banging of pots, woks, etc. and escorted the beast with strong burly farmers armed with farming tools, they could drive the beast away. Legend has it that this method worked, and since this incident occured sometime around the beginning of spring it was repeated every year since. Those are very brief descriptions of some of the legends of the origins of lion dancing, there are more out there if you still feel like digging.

The difference between the southern and northern lions besides the obvious physical differences is the way that they are danced, and who commonly dance(d)(s) them. Historically, the northern (beijing) lion was performed by acrobats for the entertainment of government officials and the emperor. That's why the style of dancing was very acrobatic and theatrical. Even the music sounds more northern, with more beijing opera influence. Even today, the easiest way to see a northern lion dance is to watch an acrobatics show, where the performance is started or concluded with a lion dance.

The southern lion was danced mostly by martial artists. Historically, the dance was used to supplement martial arts training, pass along secret messages between revolutionaries, raise funds, advertise the skills of the school's master. That's why powerful stances, waist and arm strength is so important to southern lion dancing.

Northern lion costumes resemble shi tzu dogs. The body is completely covered with long hair. That's fine in the north, where the climate can get very cold during the winter and spring months. In the south, where the climate is a lot warmer, the costume does not cover the performers completely. It merely drapes over their bodies. Some of the martial artists who did the lion dance were fugitives from government oppression, and they ended up hiding with Chinese opera performers on boats that traveled from town to town. The painted faces of lions began to take on some of the characteristics of the painted faces of opera performers. Even the balls on modern southern lions trace their origins to opera performers who commonly adorned their headdresses with the same kinds of silk balls.

In the last decade or so, it's become increasingly common for groups to mix the different styles of dance. Southern lion/northern dancing combines some of the best of both categories of lion dancing. Southern lions now commonly perform some of the highly difficult techniques that once were done mainly by their northern cousins.

I hope this response answers your questions and stirs up new questions for the list.

Corey

Hi Armel,

Chris forwarded your message to the list so I'm responding to both. You should get this message twice. If not, you are still not on the list...

> My name is Armel mouque and liv in Amsterdam/Netherlands. I'm a student
> at the Amsterdam Wushu Academy and practise Liu He Men, Tai Chi Chuan
> and H'sing Yi. Our school is also very busy with liondance (every year
> with New Year and various openings of shops etc.).

You've probably already checked out this page but it's also from the Netherlands:

http://www.et.tudelft.nl/~wingchun/Lion.html

> My question is what is known on the history of Liondance, where does it
> come from?

Alot is known but it's all oral traditions and there are quite a few. The best reference is Dr. William Hu's book, "Lion Dance Explained." Among other places, you can get it from Wing Lam Enterprises at www.wle.com.

(I'm not affiliated with WLE but I study at Lam Kwoon)

Is there a specific reason you want to know the origin? The stories range from tribes chasing away monsters to dying emperors that it saved.

> My second question is: what is the difference between the Southern and
> Northern Lion (and Peking Lion)?

Big difference in appearence. Drumming and dancing is different too. The Northern Lion tends to be more dancing and acrobatic while the Southern Lion is more martial and powerful. Today, however, the most popular lion dancing is Southern Lion in a Northern Style. Which is the southern lion with more acrobatic moves.

> I hope you can help me finding the answers or direct me to other places
> on the Web where I can find information.

Hope these answers made sense.

Stephen.

Hey Armel,

After Corey's response, which I felt was pretty thorough, I just wanted to add in the difference between Northern and Southern lions that Southern lions carry a religious significance. The Northern lion does resemble the Fu-dogs which are mythical guardians of all the temples and other important Chinese buildings. However, the southern lion is called the "awakened lion" because it must be brought to life and filled with a spirit through a religious ceremony (most times by a Taoist ceremony). That is why the southern lion has a mirror on its forehead and lights in its eyes. The light resembles that the lion's eyes have been opened with a spirit and the shield reflects the good light from the heavens. The red ribbon on the horn is also a religious symbol of honor and courage.

Sherman

Hi everybody,

Just a brief question about the red ribbon on the Lion's horn. Sherman Wong writes that it is a "religious symbol of honor and courage." Does anybody know anything more about this? I think that I once heard (or read) some story about a Lion having been decapitated for crossing the Emperor of Heaven. However, Guan Yin (merciful as she is supposed to be) saved the Lion, using the red ribbon to tie the head back again. Anybody else heard something like this?

Pontus

I had not heard that story - thank for sharing! :) I know that because of the religious significance, we do not tie a red ribbon to the horn. The mirror and the lights are kept, however. I know that the ceremony can be done by a Buddhist, and not necessarily a Taoist, but that is a different ceremony (animal blood is not put on the lion, red food coloring or some other red dye is used, I am told). We tried to modify the waking up ceremony to remove the religious aspects. Having no other background in this, however, I have no frame of reference, so I do not know how successful we are.

I am interested to know of the various "tests" the lion must go through to get to the greens, which of them carry religious significance? It would be nice knowing what we're getting ourselfs into!

Thanks

Bernard

Yes, I've heard the story of the decapitation and the goddess of mercy. The red ribbons are also like decorating the lion with honor, like pinning stripes on the soldier. Every year our lions visit the various temples around town and at each temple, after paying respects to the gods, the lion is decorated with another red ribbon along with a branch of gold foil leaves. Since the original story of the Goddess of Mercy tells of how Kuan Yin thought the lion had learned his lesson and felt sorry for the lion, every new ribbon simbolizes that the lion is more knowledgeable of what is good and right. Therefore, an older more experienced lion will be decorated with more red ribbons (symbolically).

Sherman

Bernard wrote earlier that they do not tie on the ribbon. In Hawaii, lion dance tradition is taken very seriously. The decoration of the horn, as we interpret, symbolizes that the lion has been under the teachings of the gods. Sometimes, the horn on a lion falls off (never on our lions) of one new club in Hawaii trimmed the horns off their dragon. We try not to greet or acknowledge the lions and dragons without the horns because they are considered untamed. Don't take this wrong, I just want to share some stories that my elders have passed down to me. When other clubs bring their lions to visit our clubhouse, we always tie a new ribbon on their heads like a decoration of honor.

We kind of get offended when people think we just lion dance for money. In fact, we don't make any money - we are totally non-profit. Many people don't understand the religious symbolism of the lion dance. They don't even know why they are sticking money in the lion's mouth. We try to spread the message that Lion Dancing is part of Chinese culture and not just some side show.

If you get a chance, read Dr. Hu's writings on the Kai Kuang ceremony. It will definitely gave you some background of the religious significance of the lion.

--Sherman