Mid-Autumn Festival, Fire Dragon Dance, and Festival of the Monkey God

This weekend was huge for festivals! Last night I went to the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Fire Dragon Dance - they were amazing. For Mid-Autumn Festival we went to Victoria Park, and there were thousands of families picnicking with their lanterns, burning candles and eating mooncakes to celebrate the biggest harvest moon of the year. It was really cool to see all the people celebrating - the little kids had cute lanterns, like airplanes or hello kitty. After that was the Fire Dragon Dance, which is a tradition in the Tai Hang district of Hong Kong. One hundred years ago, the legend says, there was a typhoon and a plague in the fishing and farming village of Tai Hang and all the crops were destroyed. After that a python, the son of the dragon king, came and ate all the village livestock. To fight the plague, the village youth made a huge dragon out of straw and covered it with burning incense, dancing it through the streets for three days and three nights during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The plague disappeared, so the town reenacts the dance every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was so cool last night I'm going back again for the final night - supposedly the third night of the Dance is pretty crazy! Pictures of the Mid-Autumn Festival and Fire Dragon Dance here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021900&id=1325940161&l=016d2cc353

I also tried to go to the Festival of the Monkey God this morning, but it's really obscure, and I couldn't find it. Ended up wandering around Hong Kong for a few hours - here are my pics from that adventure:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021958&id=1325940161&l=7d9af2ab76

Also, here are pics of my new haircut!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30409522&l=9f1d8177bf&id=1325940161
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30409523&l=c3f676ec1e&id=1325940161