OROVILLE – Like many new year celebrations, the Lunar New Year represents new opportunities and wishes for luck, prosperity and good health.
Oroville’s ancient Chinese temple, which was built in 1863, provided the backdrop for Sunday’s event that drew nearly 400 people. Many of them gathered in anticipation of the beauty and skill of two dancing lions and the loud singing of Leung’s White Crane Dragon and the Lion Dance Association of San Francisco.
The Lunar New Year is not exactly the same as the traditional Chinese New Year, but it is closely related, as both are based on the old Chinese lunar calendar, which is the new moon that occurs in mid-Jan. 21 and Feb. 20 on 20 Feb. Gregorian calendar. Thus, the season of “new year” is different every year, not the fixed date of Jan. 1 as it is celebrated in western cultures.
Lots of oohs and ahhs came from the crowd as the lions performed complex movements and gyrations that represented the blessings they bring to the audience: wealth, longevity and good health. Actors Timothy Tran and Ricardo Lopez were inside one lion, while Cindy Nguyen and Karina Quok were inside the other. Musicians Peter Pham (drums) and Colin Nguyen and Donovan Nguyen (cymbals) provided a lot of sound – loud, but with real purpose.
Pham, who is the leader of the White Crane group, explained that the noise was made to scare away evil spirits. Indeed, the lions and the musicians entered the temple for the final purpose of the play.
Pham said some theaters use firecrackers, whose music scares away unwanted spirits.
However, the crowd seemed to be very pleased with the performance and the performance of the lions.
Brianna Chapman of Oroville and her 3-year-old son, Carson Harris, came to see the show. Carson was looking forward to the event, which his mother said was another way she enjoyed exposing him to different cultures.
“We went there last year and enjoyed seeing everything,” Chapman said as she and her son admired the many exhibits inside the temple’s museum. “He liked to see the dragons, and he watched videos of the dragons over and over again.”
“They were red and yellow,” Carson recalled fondly.
History is power
Heather McCafferty, manager of the city’s Chinese temple, explained that the Oroville temple had many Lunar New Year celebrations in the 19th century.
“It was a big celebration in this area in the 1800s,” he said, “and we have several pictures of flags and things in our collection that were used in those events.”
McCafferty says attendance at the 2022 event was 400, and it was close to that number this year.
“People enjoy dancing,” he said. “You can feel the energy when it’s about to start.”
Officials at the temple museum handed out red envelopes to attendees on Sunday, a Chinese New Year celebration. Wrapping money in red paper, according to Chinese tradition, can bring great happiness and prosperity to the recipient. Red represents strength, luck and happiness in Chinese culture.
The White Crane team’s stop in Oroville was part of a long day and many trips. The players had started their day dancing at the Cache Creek Casino in west Yolo County, then headed to Oroville. After their hour-long session, they got back into the car on their way to perform at a Lunar New Year event in Sacramento.
