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the theatrical matsheds and much else, were borne by association leaders and their members, and by donations from, and levies on, the local communities. The services of the schoolmasters and local scholars were normally rendered without charge, since they were probably pleased to be asked, and their work kept their names and reputation before the public.
Lion or unicorn dances
In Hong Kong, lion and unicorn dancers were, and still are, an important adjunct to ceremonial occasions. They are much in evidence at festival times, and in the opening ceremonies for any important event. No resited villagers would occupy their new settlement without the obligatory lion or unicorn dance to help guarantee a safe and prosperous environment, and no self-respecting new bank branch or restaurant would open for business without these harbingers of their future business success. Newly renovated historic buildings were also re-opened in style, with lion dancers well to the fore (Plate 19)
Before development overtook Hong Kong's former rural area, practically all the six or seven hundred old villages of the New Territories had their lion or unicorn dance teams. In Cantonese-speaking villages, it was always a lion; and in the Hakka villages, a unicorn. However, observation and enquiry indicate that their purpose and motivation are much the same. These dance troupes are also to be found in urban areas, past as well as present.
3
Besides the lion and unicorn troupes, there was a third, much less common and only to be seen among immigrant communities of persons from the Hoklo areas of Northeastern Guangdong. This was the pei yau troupe. Described to me as 'younger brother to the dragon,' the pei yau was rather a joyous, amiable creature. Plate 20 shows a typical example, photographed in a New Territories village in recent years.
* The dance teams were at the heart of traditional village life. Besides what might be styled their internal duties at family celebrations by fellow villagers or at the opening of temples, ancestral halls, schools and village offices, they were turned out to meet and send off important visitors. If plague menaced, the lion or unicorn dancers accompanied Taoist priests in procession round the neighbourhood in order to dispel it. And should any village be under attack, the troupes under their respected instructors would form the first-line defence. They were, besides, a principal means for maintaining and extending a village's status and prestige.
78
the theatrical matsheds and much else, were borne by association leaders and their members, and by donations from, and levies on, the local communities. The services of the schoolmasters and local scholars were normally rendered without charge,. since they were probably pleased to be asked, and their work kept their names and reputation before the public.
Lion or uncorn dances
In Hong Kong, lion and uniform dancers were, and still are, an important adjunct to ceremonial occasions. They are much in evidence at festival times, and in the opening ceremonies for any important event. No resited villagers would occupy their new settlement without the obligatory lion or unicorn dance to help guarantee a safe and prosperous environment, and no self-respecting new bank branch or restaurant would open for business without these harbingers of their future business success. Newly renovated historic buildings were also re-opened in style, with lion dancers well to the fore (Plate 19)
Before development overtook Hong Kong's former rural area, practically all the six or seven hundred old villages of the New Territories had their lion or unicorn dance teams. In Cantonese-speaking villages, it was always a lion; and in the Hakka villages, a unicom. However, observation and enquiry indicate that their purpose and motivation are much the same. These dance troupes are also to be found in urban areas, past as well as present.
3
Besides the lion and unicorn troupes, there was a third, much less common and only to be seen among immigrant communities of persons from the Hoklo areas of Northeastern Guangdong. This was the pei yau troupe. Described to me as 'younger brother to the dragon,' the pei yau was rather a joyous, amiable creature. Plate 20 shows a typical example, photographed in a New Territories village in recent years.
* The dance teams were at the heart of traditional village life. Besides what might be styled their internal duties at family celebrations by fellow villagers or at the opening of temples, ancestral halls, schools and village offices, they were turned out to meet and send off important visitors. If plague menaced, the lion or unicorn dancers accompanied Taoist priests in procession round the oeighbourhood in order to dispel it. And should any village be under attack, the troupes under their respected instructors would form the first-line defence. They were, besides, a principal means for maintaining and extending a village's status and prestige.
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