Lion dances sweep Saipan as businesses welcome Year of the Fire Horse

The Chinese Association of Saipan USA fanned out across the island last Feb. 17, performing more than 20 lion dances to usher in the Year of the Fire Horse, carrying with them hopes of prosperity amid a challenging business climate.

“I would like to say kung hei fat choi to all of the island, my friend, and Happy New Year,” said Rose Chan, director of the association.

Chan said she has been organizing the dances for nearly four decades before leading a lion dance crew at Century Hotel, Shirley’s Coffee Shop, and Tribes Bar in Garapan.

“Because this is especially the Chinese New Year, Spring Festival. And this is kind of Chinese [our] culture. So we want to continue these kinds of activities.”

This year, the troupe visited over 20 businesses around Saipan, blessing storefronts, offices, and showrooms with the traditional drumbeats and cymbals meant to drive away misfortune.

Chan acknowledged the economic headwinds facing the island.

“A lot of close the business,” she said, adding that she hopes the DFS Galleria will reopen.

Looking ahead, she said the Year of the Horse should signal improvement.

“It’s [to] improve and make a business good and bring a lot of prosperity to the business premises,” she said.

She explained that every element of the performance carries meaning. The lion’s ritual of picking up and “eating” cabbage symbolizes wealth.

“The cabbage is become is the green, green is U.S. dollar money. So when they pick up the green and spin, so full their stomach, it will make plenty-plenty money,” Chan said.

The loud drumming and firecrackers also serve a purpose.

“The noise is to scare the devil, the spirit chasing them away, to bring the place clean and good luck,” she said.

The group also handed out good luck charms and red scrolls bearing auspicious messages.

“The scroll is a kind of the poem and to say good luck and all the best, like a kind of good luck charms,” Chan added.

At Atkins Kroll Saipan, general manager Tracy Guerrero welcomed the lion dance crew into the showroom.

“This is important as part of our cultural representation. We live in a very diverse community and we love to celebrate different cultural practices,” Guerrero said. “Today is the beginning of the Year of the Horse, which is supposed to be very good luck and very good fortune. So we wish all of us here at AK and all of the community here a good fortune and prosperity for the new year.”

Guerrero acknowledged recent business closures, including the announced shutdown of National Office Supply.

“It’s truly heartbreaking to see all of our neighboring businesses having to shut their doors in these hard economic times, but have no fear. Atkins Kroll is here for Saipan and here for life,” she said.

Jerry Tiu, general manager of Saipan Computer Services, said the lion dance remains an enduring tradition.

“The lion dance, it is a very old practice. It’s done during the new year when businesses open, even for weddings, and it is supposed to bring good energy and dispel of evil and negative energies. It’s supposed to bring prosperity, happiness, and all the good things that we all look forward to in life,” he said.

On the Year of the Fire Horse, he urged caution as well as strength.

“The horse is both very strong, very fast with a very strong will. So we have to tread it carefully this coming year. We can be strong and we need to be strong, but I don’t think we should be very impulsive, which the horse can sometimes be,” he said.

Asked about the current economy, he added, “I think we just all need to hold each other’s hands and try harder. That’s all I can say. Some people will choose to continue, and others will choose not to.”

At Majesty Restaurant, manager Sanpo Poon prepared a table of fruit offerings ahead of the lion’s arrival.

“It’s just a [tradition] to welcome and then have more business to come in,” Poon said.

The offerings, he explained, are meant to bless the premises.

“That’s just like an offering for the door, the god of the ground, the door, and then the sky. So it blesses the people coming in and out. That’s for the New Year,” he said.

While he left the deeper astrological meaning of the Fire Horse to the elders, Poon said he is hopeful.

“We always look for better profit and of course a bit more customers coming in, and hope the CNMI also has more people coming in and everybody can build up their own business,” he said.