Never in my life did I expect becoming a "man" would involve a hat with a pony tail attached, a silk shirt, and a lion dance. Well this past weekend my preconcived notions were erased. The Rotary District 3520 succesfully managed to gather every exchange student in the Confucian Temple and dress them in traditional clothes. Furthermore they succeded in creating a memory that will last a lifetime.
My day started off in a bakery near the Confucian Temple assorting through the various sweets and baked delicacies, I felt like I was in Europe. The pink frosted marshmallows with sprinkles were worse than I remember any Easter candy could possibly be.
My tour of the Confucius Temple was sumplemented by a translated version of the Four Books of Confucism, that I read earlier in the year. At the core of Confucius's teachings is filial piety and following the rites. Confucius is best known for his golden rule "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others". He does have others though including one about how a son should never leave his family to travel to faraway nations.
The temple itself is simple because "no artist dares to show off in the presence of the best teacher". On top of the temple there is a cylinder. The cylinder reminds people of what happened during the Qin dynasty. Emperor Qin had the great wall built but the cylinder is not praising this accomplishment but reminding people of all the books he burned and banned. The top of the temple also includes two dragons (there are nine different dragons). We were told that these dragons like to look around therefore they are able to warn people if the wooden roof catches on fire. The carved birds resting on the ledges are bad but since Confucius is such a good teacher they come to listen. The tour of the temple was put on hold when I stumbled upon a gentleman playing a wooden lute. He had a song for whatever country you were from and plenty of newspaper clippings with pictures and articles about himself. After the tour and a Subway lunch the ceremony began.
At the beginning of the ceremony each student washed their hands to represent the washing away of old habits. Then rows of exchange students stood up walked under a table and sat on stage while their host parents placed hairpieces and hats on their heads. Soon afterwards I performed a lion dance which is traditionally Cantonese. Other groups performed a dragon dance, tai chi, and a modern techno dance. The pictures in the previous post will do much more justice than any of my words.
Comments or Questions
jlpane2930@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment