Feeding The Lions

In this post, I described the lion and dragon dances at IFC mall, where, after the dances on the main stage, the each lion started walking down the halls. They were heading off to do their real work: chasing away evil spirits and bringing good luck to the businesses throughout the mall.

In exchange for their services, the lions are paid with money enclosed in a red lai see packet. But the lions have got to earn their tips. Here's how they do it.

Each business expecting a visit from a lion hangs a bunch of lettuce and other greens high in the entryway to the store. Lai see packets are tucked in with the greens:


The lion arrives, along with an entourage of musicians beating drums and cymbals. He goes in, walks around, and pokes his head into every corner of the store, looking as if he's going shopping. It was quite funny to see this lion in a cosmetics store, browsing through skincare products:



It could be my imagination, but it seemed the lion paid particular attention to the cash register, going behind the counter if he was able, and shaking his head around this way and that. It makes sense that you'd want to be sure that this area of the store was thoroughly divested of any evil spirits, which might cause a loss in sales.

After clearing the store of bad luck, the lion gets his reward. He steps outside the store, eyes the greens hanging above him, and then leaps up to take it in his mouth, like a fish:

Here's what it looks like from the front, while I was actually inside a store when the lion arrived. I discovered that the dancer often uses a small knife to cut the greens from the ribbon:

After grabbing the greens, the lion crouches down on the floor, as if he was settling down to enjoy a snack. But underneath the costume, the dancer is removing the lai see packet from the greens.

Then, to a drumroll and a great clanging flourish from the band, the lion spits out the leaves to a waiting salesperson, while the crowd laughs and cheers:

Usually the lion pauses for a group photo with the sales staff before moving on to the next store. A cleanup crew moves in to pick up any stray greens and torn lai see paper. I like the discreet little picnic basket:

Just as they did for the stage show, the lions showed off their athletic ability by jumping up high in the air to get each reward. I thought, these guys are working hard for their lai see! Especially when I realized that there are something like two hundred stores in the mall, and nearly all of them were expecting a visit from a lion. I spent a couple of hours shopping that afternoon, and I when I left I could still hear the drums and gongs booming through the halls.