The Year of the Rabbit

We had snow again this week, which reminded me that I had some posts to write about some adventures we had back in January, when we last had some snow.

  

Towards the end of January, Polar told us that it was the Lunar New Year, celebrated in countries like China, Vietnam and Thailand, but also by some people of south-east Asian heritage in the UK.

 

There was going to be a day of celebrations at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.  Hanley Bear and I wanted to go and, because it was the Year of the Rabbit, we asked Polar if Old Bunny could come with us and Polar said yes. 

 

Old Bunny wore the red dress we made for her when we helped to make her better two Christmases ago, because red is a lucky colour in Chinese culture.  Old Bunny and Polar (who are the same age) were both born in a Rabbit year, and Old Bunny is quite frail, so does not go out very often.

    

We snuggled up in our Bear Bag, because it was a very cold day.  Polar walked up the road from the car park to the museum because the pavements were so icy, and we arrived just in time for the Dragon Dance.  We all enjoyed watching the dancers making the dragon snake about, chasing a ball, then its own tail!

 

Inside the museum, there were lots of activities taking place and it was very, very busy.  We decided to watch a very clever lady doing a graceful, slow dance, where her face kept changing as she drew her fan across it, as she was wearing a series of very thin masks.

She was very kind as, when she had finished doing her performance, she let Polar take her photo with Old Bunny, who thought she was very clever indeed.

Then Hanley said we should all go back outdoors, as they were going to let off some firecrackers.  Old Bunny isn't very keen on loud things, as she has very big ears, so she sheltered inside the Bear Bag while we waited for the really loud bangs to start.  Even Hanley had to put his paws over his ears!

 

The last event was the Lion Dance.  There was a panda and some little people too, but my favourite thing was the little dancing lion cubs.  There were lots of human cubs watching them, and many of them had their pictures taken with the lions.

We would have liked to stay and see more things but it was very,very busy and Old Bunny was starting to feel sleepy.  Hanley and I agreed that we ought to go home, but we had enjoyed our visit and hope to see next year's celebrations too.