Sunday afternoon (5th Feb), my husband and I were sitting on the backyard patio reading the weekend newspaper when suddenly the sound of drums erupted!
After a couple of minutes I realized the sound was actually "Chinese drums" and we thought it could be coming from somewhere down the road. After a few minutes I grabbed my camera and went out the front door to investigate what was happening.
I saw dozens of cars in our usually very quiet street, parked on the verge of the park across the road from our house. When I looked down the street lots of people stood in the front yard of one of the houses and I walked towards it to see 2 Chinese lion dancers dancing to the sound of drums and a lot of the people watching were bearing gifts for the host.
When the dragon dance ended the guests were invited to go indoors and celebrate with some food.
It was interesting and even though I've been living here for almost 10 years it was the first time I saw this celebration in our street.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
On Thursday (9th Feb), our council, the City of Canning in conjunction with the Westfield Carousel shopping centre (not too far from my house) hosted an event to celebrate the Year of the Rooster.
It was meant to be an outdoor event, but due to the unusual rainy day and the fact that it was actually quite a cold day too (in the supposedly hottest month of Summer), the event was moved indoors.
The event started at 4pm and ended at 9pm, but as I was working in the afternoon, I only managed to reach the shopping at about 6,30, but still saw the last 3 events that culminated with a magnificent show of Japanese drumming by "Taiko on Perth".
I''ll try and upload videos later...the Japanese drumming is worthwhile!
Decorations in the shopping centre - top: the Rooster
Traditional Chinese Dancing
Japanese Drumming - Taiko on Perth
Animal figurines of the Chinese New Year
HAPPY YEAR OF THE ROOSTER!