Chinese New Year 2012 in Port Moresby

Hola mi amigos y amigas! I am back from my refreshing holiday and have since gained 2 kilograms which have curiously chosen to gather around my midsection. My trousers are now tighter than ever thus allowing me to discard the use of belts and I cannot wear my slim fit shirts anymore as wearing them makes me look like an overstuffed burrito! Luckily, I left my fat clothes here.

Anyway, it is Chinese New Year and we are welcoming in the Year of the Dragon, the luckiest sign they say in Chinese astrology. Mainland China is preparing for a baby boom this year as a lot of couples want their babies to be born this year so say goodbye to population control!

In Papua New Guinea, there is quite a large community of Chinese who have been here since the turn of the last century. The first Chinese came to Papua New Guinea courtesy of the British who brought them over from the colony of Hong Kong making them Cantonese. They settled in Rabaul and started their families. Today, Chinese from this initial community are called PNG Chinese. These would be the Seetos, Chius, Chans, Wongs, Chins and many more. A lot of them have been educated in Australia which sets them apart from the other Chinese communities.

The next lot of Chinese were immigrants who came from Malaysia and Indonesia. They came around the 70's and 80's and established themselves in the business community. Most prominent from this community would be the Tjeongs, Hanafis, Tjandras, Tans and a few more.

The last batch started coming in the late 90's and from the last decade. This batch came straight from Mainland China and are more known as mainlanders. Most of them cannot speak English and have established small trading posts around the country though some of them have done quite well and established themselves as territorial distributors.

Anyway, enough about history. Yesterday, the office where I work at invited the Cathay Club to have their lion dance in front of our main door. We have this annually so I have seen the club's lions increase through the years. Today, a lot of the participants are Papua New Guineans who have embraced the entry of the Chinese New Year. The lions first group together and then start their dance.

As per tradition, a head of lettuce is hung from the main door along with a packet of money. The lion dances around the lettuce and eats it. It then spits it out at the audience though this year, your truly was the lucky recipient of all the lettuce. It all landed squarely on my face. After the lettuce is spat out, the audience can feed the lion packets of money for good luck in the new year.

The lion then enters the establishment and dances all over to scare the bad spirits away. To end it, firecrackers are lit at the entrance to scare more spirits away while the lion bravely dances around the exploding pyrotechnics. However, our lion this year was careful enough not to dance close to the exploding firecrackers.

Here are some photos:

head of lettuce and red envelope

firecrackers!!!

lion heads

baby lion

preparing for the dance

bowing before the dance

let's dance!!!

preparing to eat the lettuce

yummy!!!



chewing (shredding) the lettuce



feeding the lion packets

papua new guineans watching the lion

the band

lions having a moment's respite

firecrackers are lit up!

kaboom!!!

take a bow

and it is done. adios!!!

The whole event lasted 20 minutes and it was all over right after the last firecracker exploded. The dancers and musicians were given some refreshments after and they went their merry way. I cannot remember a year wherein I never saw lions dance. I found it interesting that this year, there were a lot of new faces, Papua New Guinean faces in the lion troupe, a positive sign.

c'est moi, monsiour richard!

Happy Chinese New Year! Exit the rabbit, enter the dragon!!!