calling all dragons!

 

It's New Year's Eve again - the eve of Chinese New Year of the Water Dragon. I spent the afternoon at the Ru Yi Studio of Multicultural Arts where a celebration was happening. There was music, lots of tea, cookies, and about 100 people squooshed into the small space. Pearl Huang, founder of the Taos International Society, held the event to celebrate both the new year and the opening of a new space that will include workshops in language, poetry and music, art exhibits, Tai Ji/Qu Gong classes, and an open studio for artists. She demonstrated the Chinese tradition of honoring the ancestors on this special day and performed the Lion Dance. The dance originated as a means for the Chinese people to ward off evil and malicious spirits, but the tradition has spread to areas all over the world that have large Asian populations. And, really, who wouldn't want to ward off evil spirits? The Lion was designed and sewn by a local fiber artist and was beautiful.

Pearl and an assistant became the great lion.

I met Pearl many years ago through mutual friends. We hadn't seen each other in several years, but the moment we saw each other today there was a dearth of small talk and we were caught up with each other's lives in minutes, immediately launching into what was uppermost in our minds.
     Her father was a cultural ambassador and she carried on his work when she came to America in 1949 from the Fujian province of China. Among other things, she became an interpreter in Los Angeles and taught classes at UNM in Taos. She is an artist and calligrapher. She first came to Taos in 1981, moved here permanently in 1997 and has called it home ever since. She said, "I fell in love with the landscape and the local Pueblo people. The Asian philosophy is very compatible with that older culture here in Taos".

sunday morning sidewalks
Normally I reserved Sundays for puttering, reading, relaxing at home, but I was drawn to this event - not only because my Chinese zodiac sign is the Dragon, but because I was inexplicably compelled. As it turned out (and this will seem weird) I met up with a young man there whom I know only slightly and hadn't seen for a year or so but who I'd briefly greeted the day before in the organic market. The first words out of my mouth when I saw him today were, "there must be a reason why we're running into each other twice in 24 hours". Now this sort of talk is not like me - the words just flew out uncensored. It turned out that we needed to speak to each other and I may have diverted him from thoughts of suicide. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this. I've been told numerous times that this year is going to change lives in small and large ways and I'm beginning to believe it. Maybe I'll write about the dream. About the restless spirits who want us to dig deeper within ourselves. But not tonight when I'm standing in the gap between the past and the future.

happy new year!