Lucky Lettuce

Once upon a time, long, long ago and far, far away, bandits disguised themselves as strange wild beasts and invaded a small village.  The villagers fled in panic and the bandits looted their homes and farms.  The villagers, determined to scare off the bandits, made fierce-looking costumes that resembled lions.  Some villagers donned the costumes and danced around wildly, while others banged on pots and pans, making as much noise as possible.  The bandits were indeed frightened by the costumes and all the commotion; they ran off and were never seen again.  The villagers lived happily ever after.

 The bandit attack occurred on the eve of the lunar new year, some 2000 years ago, in a small Chinese village.  From that day forward, lion dancing was thought to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.  Nowadays, lion dances are popular at weddings, school graduations and similar events, as well as new years eve and other holidays.  Lion dancers are often acrobats and martial arts students, (kung fu in particular) and their dance movements reflect their skills.  Martial arts schools sometimes compete in the dances.

Unlike their carnivorous African cousins, Chinese lions are vegetarians and their favorite food is lucky lettuce.  Lions love lucky lettuce.  And who wouldn't?  Lucky lettuce is a bunch of green paper which contains a red envelope with money in it.  The money is the dancers' reward for their performance.  Google 'lion dance youtube' if you want to view a lion dance.

By now, you're surely asking yourself why the hell is the silly old fart rambling on about lion dances and lucky lettuce?  As well you should.  Because: a lion dance costume resides on the pot shelf in our great room.  It's a memento, left over from when I was a black belt kung fu master and internationally acclaimed lion dancer.  It's a colorful thing, a conversation piece, often drawing comments from visitors - which it did a few nights back, when Gary and Nancy were here.

PS:  Until now, few people knew about my kung fu/lion dancer background.  Very few.  Would you believe - nobody?   I lied up there, don't know kung fu from Fu Manchu and have never done a lion dance.  I can chicken dance, though.  The costume was a gift from Patty, my ex.  We both admired the colorful costumes when we were in China; she came across this one in Chinatown in San Francisco and nailed it.

The bandits-raiding-the-village story is one of several stories (myths) and theories about the dance's origin.