Chinatown Festival

Hubby and I were downtown for a couple of child-free hours today and stumbled across something going on in Chinatown. There were two dancing dragons and a lot of drums and cymbals and firecrackers, so there was plenty of noise. I think it was likely the Moon Festival (link is to the San Francisco Moon Festival; I can't find any info on Victoria celebrations).



The dragons were dancing up to each business in Chinatown and eating strings which were tied to the front of the buildings -- at the bottom of each string was a lettuce, then all the way up were either red (money) envelopes or $5 and $10 bills tied evenly along the string. The dragon would dance in front of the building while a man guarded the entrance with a pitchfork; the dragon would eventually see the money string and eat it. (After the money strings were "digested," men in blazers with Freemason crests gathered them from under the dancers.)



There were two dragons which must have started on opposite ends of the street, and eventually they met in the middle. After that, the people creating the perimiter (holding broomsticks) started to push the crowd out of the way. We moved back then got moved again. Eventually, we were far enough back and they said they were preparing a demonstration.

We waited for about 10 minutes then gave up and wandered off to buy a treat from one of the Chinese bakeries (I had a red bean sesame ball; hubby had a pork ball -- basically the same thing without sesame seeds on the outside and with ground pork instead of bean paste) then went for a short wander before returning to my mother's to collect the kid.