Dancing lions and serious explosions... Tet in Chicago

Celebrations of Tết, Vietnamese New Year, in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood: beautiful dancing lions, delicious food and earsplitting firecrackers! January 28, 2012, Argyle and Broadway Ave. Chicago. This area is known as Little Saigon, Little Vietnam, New Chinatown or West Argyle Street Historic District.

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I would especially be interested to hear from people in the Vietnamese or Chinese community, and maybe get some background insight on some Tết customs. It seems that the lion walks into each store, sometimes picks up a leaf of lettuce at the entrance and gets a gift at the store. Then, the dragon leaves the store and firecrackers are lit: I've been told that the reason for firecrackers is to scare away evil spirits. Is this true?

In any case, Tết Nguyên Đán brings out positive feelings and generosity in people. Chúc Mừng Năm Mới

At first, I didn't realize that the red cylinders stacked on strings were firecrackers. I assumed they were some sort of New Years decorations. I got very close, about a foot from them to take a photo... Just at that moment, perhaps intentionally, the city employee (only city employees are licensed to play with fireworks in Chicago) decided to light it up... It was not the best way to find out what the red cylinders were... I'll be staying away from them next year :D

Some info for photo/video enthusiasts:
This video was shot on a Canon EOS t3i camera with the stock 18-75mm lens at 1080p 24fps. I wish I had had a .6 neutral density filter with me when I shot this. It was a very bright day, and I was getting a reading of f16 or f22 even with ISO set to 100! I have my shutter speed locked to 1/50 most of the time when I shoot video (roughly double the frame rate), and use ND filters rather than faster shutter speeds to bring down the exposure.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• dancing lion
• Lion Dance
• vietnamese lion
• vietnamese dragon
• Little Saigon
• Vietnamese
• dragons
• dancing dragon
• Tết Nguyên Đán
• Vietnamese New Year
• Chinese New Year
• Tết
• Tet
• Vietnamese in America
• Vietnamese in Chicago
• Year of the Dragon
• vietnamese new years
• lunar new year
• chinese new year animals
• cny in america
• Uptown Chicago
• Dragon (zodiac)
• Vietnamese movie
• Argyle
• Argyle and Broadway
• Broadway Chicago
• Chicago
• Uptown
• firecrackers
• Tet in America

[almostskate]

Hi vedranre. Thanks for the comments on my video about the Vietnamese community in Chicago. It was a school project from a few years ago and I had to make a few trips to Argyle to get it done.

This video is great. You shot it really well. The close up clips on the street edited to the music they were playing there really captured the experience. I was in Chinatown for their Chinese New Year celebration this year and it was similar to this with the fireworks and lion dances but with a parade.

[vedranre]

@almostskate Thanks for your nice comment and for watching the video! Chinese NY is a lot of fun, isn't it? I hope to create a series of videos on various communities around Chicago. I'll definitely be down in Pilsen for Cinco de Mayo with my camera, and maybe some other events before that... have to check the calendar what's coming up :)

[crazyBSer]

Hey man, great shooting, i really like the video. i'd just like to clarify that this is Lion Dance, and not Dragon Dance. Dragon dance is the one with a 60-foot long dragon attached to poles and has 9 people carrying it.

[vedranre]

@crazyBSer Thanks for the feedback! I do think you may be right. However, these costumes look kind of like small dragons, don't they? Can someone else confirm that this is lion dance?

[crazyBSer]

@vedranre Yeah, it can be a bit confusing since they look nothing like actual lions from africa. This one here is a He-Shan Lion, with the characteristic flat rectangular face and pointed horn. You can check the wiki articles for Dragon Dance and Lion Dance, they're both pretty accurate.

[vedranre]

@crazyBSer Thanks so much for your enlightening comments! From Wikipedia: "The lion dance is often mistakenly referred to as dragon dance." ... There we go. I'll correct the title of the video, and I'll also vote your comment up. Thanks!

[vedranre]

@anhhoangvideo Thank you very much for your kind comment! Very best wishes in the New Year!

[anhhoangvideo]

Beautiful, from the script to the way you shot and edit, it's look simple but it's not.

If those dancers could dress more professional, your video would be perfect. my Tet video was film by a friend in my backyard for fun to remember the old days.

Thanks for post it to public.

[vedranre]

@jjnguyenable It's a wonderful holiday. Happy New Year!

[jjnguyenable]

Thanks for posting and your interest in the Tet celebrations. It's our biggest holiday of the year and hopefully the tradition will live on .

[vedranre]

@WalkThatKeroppi thanks for watching!

[WalkThatKeroppi]

Cool.

[vedranre]

@twaintrip Thank you! Thanks for watching! It was a lot of fun to film this and I definitely learned a lot.

[twaintrip]

well done! you really capture the spirit of Tet. 

[vedranre]

@insidethehatch Thanks! The last shot in the video is my favorite too. It would be cool to interview somebody. I might do that next year. Thanks for watching.

[insidethehatch]

Well done. I especially like the firework debris blowing away in the wind. Maybe you could ask someone to talk on camera to explain the tradition to the viewers.