Chinese New Year

The month before Chinese New Year is always the busiest time of the year for Lily Hambaly and her team as they work to finish dozens of barongsai (lion dance) masks and costumes. In their workshop on Jl. Roda in Bogor, Lily’s team made 20 costumes for the traditional Chinese lion dance in December.

“We usually only make a couple of masks each month, but from December to February we receive dozens of orders,” she said.

Chinese New Year, or Imlek, will fall on Thursday.

Lily, the co-founder of the Bogor Arts Troupe (GSB), also supervises three barongsai dance groups and three liong (dragon) dance groups as Theresia Sufa explains.

“I started the business (making costumes) in 2000 when I tried to fix a broken mask that belonged to a GSB member,” said Lily, who now regularly makes barongsai costumes and masks for several groups in Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra, Lampung and Papua.

Importing most of the materials she uses from China, Lily sells each barongsai costume for Rp 3 million.

“I use imported wool and rabbit fur to decorate the masks,” she said.

Dragon masks with glass chu balls on top are priced at between Rp 6 million and Rp 7 million each, she said.

Lily said her GSB dance groups would be busy from Imlek until Cap Go Meh, which is celebrated 15 days after Imlek.

“We have been forced to decline some requests to perform as we already have to perform at three different locations most days,” she said.

Lily said despite the fact her groups performed throughout the year, Imlek was by far their busiest time.

Chinese culture

A six-year-old boy stands on a partition trying to get a clear view of the performance of a c performed by women dancers at Pluit Mega mall, North Jakarta.

""Mom, where's the barongsai?,"" Jason, the Chinese-Indonesian boy asked his mother last Saturday.

Jason, a residence of Lippo Karawaci, Tangerang, Banten, was eagerly waiting for the barongsai show to start.

Jason's mother said she often takes her son to see barongsai performances at various malls in Jakarta, especially during the Chinese New Year season.

""My son loves to see the barongsai or the lion. For us this kind of public event is really great,"" she said.

Up until the resignation of former president Soeharto in May 1998, the public display of Chinese culture was prohibited.

China had been accused of supporting the abortive coup d'etat blamed on the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1965.

While Chinese cultural shows began to be seen in public in 1998, the Chinese New Year was not celebrated in the country until 2003, when then President Megawati Soekarnoputri declared it a national holiday.

Around 3 percent of the country's 215 million people are of Chinese descent.

Jason and his mother were two of over 25,000 visitors waiting in anticipation to see the barongsai performance led by Wom Pak of the Kong Hang Hong Foundation in a live show at Pluit Mega mall last Saturday.

The barongsai performance was just part of several events held at the mall themed ""Chicken in Red"" running from Jan. 13 to Feb. 14 to welcome the Year of the Rooster.

According to Elsa Laela Dewi, Mega mall's media relations officer, visitors looked forward to the barongsai more than other performances.

""That's why we saved it for the last show,"" Elsa said.

Besides the barongsai, visitors were stunned by a Mongolian dance performed by a 60-year-old woman who has gone international for her talent and skill in performing traditional Chinese and Indonesian dances.

The young-looking Tjhie Zien Ing has been recognized for her dedication to the preservation of Chinese arts and culture in Jakarta and throughout Indonesia.

""Arts and culture are universal languages. Every country in the world has its own uniqueness and variations. We have to continue developing the arts and culture in order to create peace and to fight cruelty in this country,"" said Tjhie Zien Ing, who said that she began to dance freely after the demise of the Soeharto regime in 1998