BBB Chapter 13: Here is the Big One

We went back to the first dim sum place. Right off the bat before we even started doing lion dance, we had put the heads down to get settled and this huge body builder guy walked by taking pictures smiling with his phone, "Wow we just came from flushing and they dont have nice stuff like you guys!" I knew then that Joyce's choice in lion dance color was truly powerful. It wasn't just that she picked a pink head. She had asked for a Modern Malaysian style pattern on a traditional Fut San structured head. It wasn't altered greatly but there was something different about it that was just slightly more eye catching. For our team to not only be compared with but to be praised over the Flushing parade, who had prided themselves on spending the most on the best when it came to costumes etc was saying something.

We started off drumming and then pretty quickly after that what had started as a little introduction snowballed into a full on dance. We had two heads and in truth, again, I could still see that our team was a beginner team in that we were not the most Sing Mook, but this was to be expected. After doing the Chiang I could see the owner asking for the link to bow to Gwan Yi gau...you will see him in every restuarant. They say the police bow to Guan Yu for Justiace, the gangs fir loyalty, and the Kung Fu schools for a little of both.

Interestingly, before Guan Yu became a general... he sold green beans, as Liu Bei sold bamboo crafted belts and shoes and Zhang Fei was a butcher who was actually the wealthiest of the three when they had first met. The point is, Guan Yi was a small business owner, and that's what we would have remained if the Han Dynsaty wasn't  collapsing and he hadn't hooked up with Liu Bei. 

It is interesting, I thought as I passed the drum sticks to Nara, rushed unto the lion head telling him to go back on the head and cymbals... and tried to get Nara's attention to follow me for the bow. Because she was just drumming her own beat and not looking at me at all. 

What I thought was interesting because it was rare nowadays that I heard Cantonese and even rarer that I heard Guan Yu's name....was that in an American movie about Chinese people bowing to an altar... even if the movie wasn't calling is heathens but trying to be respectful.... the bowing would be over exaggerated in a strange way and he would probably be called, "Lord Guan" in almost Sci Fi Cosplay esque version of a ritual. 

But although I used to light incense at the Kung Fu school for Guan Yu twice a day and did indeed see people. Ot part of the school, older women asking for recovery in health, actually Kow Tow before our altar....what I found more true to my version of Guan Yu was how he was now called. Guan Yi Gau.... older brother Guan yu...not Lord, not king, not general... but older brother. And I guess you have to go sometime without hearing something.... before you really listen to it 

In fact Liu Bei was king but we bow to Guan Yu. Zhang Fei, was powerful as well and there are altars to him in some places of China, but you can buy Guan Yu's altar and statue at any supermarket easily. He is the common man's saint or god. And he is so approachable that we call him brother.... not even Uncle.

The only other deity called older brother like that is Jesus... and think that partially has to do with the Young and Dangerous series.

All the lion dancenpmayers were given Hung Baos and smiles were passed around everywhere... and finally the owner, dressed to a T... approached me and fed through the lion's mouth whispering, "And this is the big one." I felt a connection... a re connection to the lion dance and that Chinese male family luke energy that I had been separated from... which to be honest....I grew up separated from and only got a hint of now and then... often through lion dance or the smell of cigar smoke and the rattle of dice and tiles in my earliest childhood memories.

Thos success wiped out our rejections we had felt and made us focus on the positives of the day... and behind schedule, we drove to our last stop.