Charlotte Welcomes Lunar New Year with Traditional Lion Dance

Charlotte, NC: Smoke filled the air, firecrackers erupted, and spectators gathered outside local eateries like Lula Bánh Mì and Bakery in Pineville on Sunday. Crowds came out to usher in the Year of the Dragon with a beloved tradition: the ancient Vietnamese art of lion dancing.

Lunar New Year Celebrations Amplify in Charlotte

The Lunar New Year, which falls on the 10th of February this year, has seen remarkable celebrations spread across Charlotte. Leading the festive charge is the cultural group, Queen City Lion Dance, which had been in an unprecedented demand over the weekend.

Kaden Tran, leader of Queen City Lion Dance, revealed the performers were booked more heavily this year. “We did a total of 20 performances just this weekend, which is approximately almost double what we did last year,” he said.

A Tradition Reignited

The Queen City Lion Dance group, formed in 2021, started as an initiative by local friends wanting to learn more about their Vietnamese heritage. The group ended up learning the lion dance, thereby carrying forward this 2,000-year-old tradition believed to chase away evil spirits and bring good luck.

“Lion dancing is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity to either your restaurant, your shop or just your everybody’s family in general,” revealed Alexus, a performer of the group.

The Art and Power of The Lion Dance

The lion dance, or múa lân in Vietnamese, is performed traditionally at special events such as weddings and cultural festivals. The performance includes two individuals who control a lion costume, one the head and the other the tail. The dance, accompanied by drums, cymbals, and gongs, mimics the movements of a living lion, seen as a majestic and powerful creature.

Kaden emphasized the performance’s real essence saying: “The lion head is very strong, very sharp movements, very similar to how an actual living breathing lion would be — strong, fierce, something that’s not to be messed with.”

The Experience and Impact

In a unique spectacle of the lion dance, the performers weave through the crowd, with spectators encouraged to pet the lions and “feed” them lucky red envelopes filled with money, a Vietnamese tradition known as lì xì.

Kaden expressed his hopes for the audience experience, stating, “I hope they experience something that is both shocking in a way, but also this is something … that they don’t come across every very often. It’s a beautiful tradition, a beautiful dance, and a beautiful culture.”

Though the performance is just about 15 minutes long, the group practices for months in advance. Becoming a skilled lion dancer requires years of practice to build the necessary physical strength and coordination.

Alexus, an active dancer in the group, vouched for the exhaustive yet rewarding experience saying, “It’s a rigorous activity, but at the end of the day, I feel like it’s so worth it to me because as a child, I grew up watching lion dance. So being able to bring another child their childhood and for them to have these memories, it means a lot to me.”

New Year, New Beginnings

With an air filled with joy, and ground reverberating with the drumbeats, this lunar new year’s celebration in Charlotte resonates with tradition, promising an auspicious beginning for the residents. As they say, out with the old and in with the new, embracing new cultural experiences and spreading joy and prosperity throughout.