Lion Dance: Hockey-Carrying Lions And The History Around Them

Photo illustration of Barongsai (Source: Commons WIkimedia)

JAKARTA - Chinese New Year or Chinese New Year is celebrated with various traditions, customs, and various things that are considered to bring luck. One of the traditions most synonymous with Chinese New Year is the Barongsai performance, which is an ancient Chinese ritual to exorcise evil spirits and bless businesses or homes.

Speaking of the Barongsai, Chinese people have long dressed up like animals to give dance performances, a practice that originated in the Qin dynasty, around 220 BC. At that time there was an inscription describing an exorcism with a dancer wearing a bear skin mask.

Why is this large, blinking and colorful lion figure the first image that comes to mind when we mention the Barongsai? This is thanks to the Chinese diaspora from southern provinces such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong's mass migration around the world in the last half century.

They bring traditions and wishes for good luck together by playing the Barongsai. To quote SCMP, Tuesday, February 9, the word "lion" was originally contained in a Han Dynasty text brought to court by an envoy from Central Asia.

However, it was not described as a dance until later in the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, Barongsai performances were at a lavish feast, involving five lions of different colors, 12 "lion boys" or dancers in charge of moving the lions, accompanied by 140 singers.

Lion dance lions

In his poetry, the classical Chinese poet Bai Juyi describes the Barongsai as a line dance performed by two hu dancers - non-Han people from Central Asia. They wore lion costumes with wooden heads, silk tails and hairy bodies, with gold-plated eyes and silver-plated teeth and moving ears.

During the Song dynasty, the lion at the Lion Dance show was the North Lion. The Northern Lion has a wooden head painted gold, has a ribbon on its head, and yellow fur all over its body. There are two northern lions shown, one of which has a red ribbon on its head which is a male lion.

Meanwhile, the lioness usually has a green headband. Gender differences are made because the dance depicts the lion family. The show is more agile to describe fun, there is even acrobatics.

There is also a show with the Southern Lion, which is known to be more complicated than the Northern Lion. The Southern Lion is believed to have originated in Guangzhou. The Southern Lion appears in Emperor Qianlong's dream during his Southern tour. He then gave the order to draw an animal according to the description, be the Southern Lion. Since then, the Southern Lion has been used in various festivals.

Barongsai performances are usually divided into two, namely civilian and martial types. More movements and flashes to mimic animal movements in the civilian Barongsai dance. While the martial arts Barongsai movement is more energetic and involves a lot of acrobatics.

The Lion Dance we usually see today is the Southern Lion Dance. More often than not, civilian lion dance performances are performed because space is limited, but martial lion dance performances are also performed at larger gatherings and festivals.

From New York to Sydney, and Vancouver to Kuala Lumpur, even in Indonesia, extraordinary creatures are displayed during Chinese New Year celebrations to bless the new year. However, this year, Chinese New Year celebrations cannot be done as usual. This is because the world is still under a pandemic and people have to keep their distance.

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