Fun Fair in Hell

I asked Laurent to take some pictures of the Lion Dancers for the blog – he informed me, in that snotty tone that Northerners take, that that was a Southern tradition, very Cantonese! He and a colleague did spend some time at the fair at Dong Yue Miao Temple on the first day of the New Year. This Taoist temple is know for its rather lurid depictions of the 72 Departments of Hell. That was our destination during one of those snow days back in December. Here are a few pictures of the Temple in the snow. From Laurent’s pictures it appears that spring has come to Beijing. (Click on a thumbnail to see the bigger picture.)

Laurent wrote:
Here are some photos from the Dong Yue Miao Temple. Crowds of people today, with games and food served in the courtyard. There were exhibits of old toys, fortune tellers, dancers, jugglers, strong men, bands and puppet shows in the fashion of Punch and Judy. Of course there were lots of people praying and leaving red prayer tags at the shrine of the God of Fortune because this year is the Golden Pig which only occurs again in 2067.

So this is the “austere” way they celebrate in Beijing? I can only imagine what it must be like in the “exuberant” south.