Happly Dragon Boat Festival

Happy Dragon Boat Festival !!!
Bruce on the subway 

While most Chinese had been celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival for several days, we decided to spend the day exploring various settings where we hoped to find 'local' celebrations as we reminded ourselves how to negotiate the subway system.

Throwing coins for good luck- Jing An Temple
The morning started slowly, after a lovely hotel breakfast-everything from rice noodles, fried rice, dim sum (little filled dumplings), multiple veggies (corn, bok choy, string beans and more), eggs, millet or rice porridge and a special treat that is eaten during the festival-- sticky rice filled with a few yummy goodies such as an egg yolk and small juicy pieces of meat, all wrapped in a leafy package to form a tetrahedron about the size of a large fist.  From there we walked to find the studio where I will be teaching. The walk is about 30 minutes away and passes through small parks and neighborhoods, as well as crosses a lovely canal.  I don't know anything about the teaching space yet, but it is housed in a large and very modern 'mall' with a Montessori school as well as a fancy coffee shop (which made Bruce happy.)

Monks and burning money for good luck 
Next we took the subway a couple of stops to the Jing An Temple, a huge Buddhist Temple to see if any special rituals were happening. The temple is both magnificent and beautiful. Gold leafed roofs are guarded by equally golden protector animals. Most of the walls and internal structures are carved wood and, except for the billowing incense smoke from the incense burners in front of the main building, spotlessly clean. And the space filled with people- Chinese people praying and tourists taking photos. At one point several monks filed out, singing and playing instruments, while one of them burned what looked like money (from my distant observation site.) What is also quite interesting is that the temple is surrounded by huge, up-scale shopping malls and massive highway overpasses. Quite a juxtaposition.

Elevator guarded by demons at Jing An Temple
From there we took the subway to Zongshen Park, a lovely park that we had visited last time we were here. We wanted to see what, if anything was happening. First a brief note about the parks in Shanghai- they seem ubiquitous and beautiful. No matter how small, the parks are filled with plants, trees and pathways that wind and curve, sometimes creating a vista of a large expanse of green and sometime forming a smaller enclosed space to sit and just be. We saw people dancing, children (and older people too) flying kits, teens taking selfies, people sleeping, eating and just sitting and talking. In this city, parks are used frequently and by everyone, from very young to old.

Lotus pond and selfies 
At one point we heard music and followed our ears to a small pavilion filled with several older people singing and playing musical instruments. We were quietly standing, at the outer edge of the group, when a small, energetic woman came and grabbed our arms and dragged us to the 'seat of honor' in the the pavilion itself. Following that, they gave us two microphones and asked us to sing songs. Bruce and I looked at each other- my mind was blank and we started with Dona Nobis Pachem. From there they searched their song books to find some English songs- inluding Moonriver, Oh Suzannah, By the Waters of Babylon, and many others.  When we didn't know the words we sang the melody and they joined us. At one point, singing to a waltz, one of the women pulled me up to dance. I keep inviting others to dance with us and soon we had a huge dance party going on. Some of the men then put on music for some partner dances- waltzes and swing dancing seemed to be the form of choice, and WOW did they dance and lead well.
Singing and playing music in Zhongshen Park 

Finally, we were able to get them to also sing some of the more traditional songs, and we were serenaded by beautiful voices singing what sounded like traditional opera songs.   Finally, after we all sang Old Lang Syne together, Bruce and I said good by, in search of the subway stop.  From there, since it was evening and dark, we went to a local Muslim cafe (well, it was a Halal place, with signs saying no smoking or drinking , and two of the women who did the cooking wore headscarves- so we assumed they were most likely Muslim.) Then home and to bed. What a wonderful day!!!






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