August Moon 2009

This past Sunday we performed for the August Moon Festival on August 16th. Roughly based on the Mid Autumn festival which usually falls around September or October on the western Calendar. My first performance for the School had been on stilts when I was fourteen years old for that years August Moon.
This year we did not do stilts. It was too much of a hassle.
Considering where we were at as a school we did I good job. They wanted us to stretch out our performance for about an hour since we were last and they had time to kill. I ended up bringing the audience participation into our segment as if I was more, teaching kids of my own instead of performing for strangers. We taught a little bit of Kung Fu and allowed children to try the child's head at the end. This was something that before, we would probably not do. But today, it was okay.

One of Sifu's students from the village met me in back of the stage (which was outdoors) and began talking about the proper way to perform the Tiger Fork. Sifu had shown me some things before but not everything. In the village, the Fork Represented a Master and so there were many rules and rituals associated with it. But Sifu knew that for Boston, I was good enough.
If they challenged us, we could fight them. If they only did so verbally, the truth is that they were only blowing air out of their mouth anyway because they didn't know what they were talking about.

Nonetheless if someone who actually knew something had comments for improvement of how I was doing things, Of course I would choose improvement over irgnorance.

He explained that I did some of the technques but I had to also do the other ones. (Some of which Sifu said, were not as important because they were for look and performance and not for real Fighting. Sifu had told me PA but lay sun, the Flying Paddle (Tiger Fork) should not leave your body. You keep it close so that you have power, This Represents you fighting a Tiger. You don't jab out long to attack, but if the Tiger comes near you then you kill it using the force of you whole body behind the Fork. Otherwise the tiger will be able to get past a weaker extended fork.)

Now Sifu's student, an old man fairly newly arrived from China, began going over some of the customs of the performance with me backstage.

"Do you understand me when I talk to you?" He says in Taishanese.

"Doong" Although honestly, not clearly.

"The Pah, you first Lift it rising up right?, but when come back down around your hands have to switch to this grip," he said showing downward facing fist. "Also you start off the Pah has to face down. " I nodded as I had been doing that, " then you have to attack like this and this." he showed and I watched carefully trying to remember and see if I missed anything. "Then there are some performance moves too you haven't been shown, crossing the shoulders, You have to be shown that, And you throw up the pah and catch it, ending the form, it has to be facing down again." I had been facing it up at the end not realizing this was a rule. "it has to be facing down," he said when I aske d again, "Not facing up to the heavens."

This Uncle here was from another village and recalled one of the performances.

"We went to another village and performed, but the old men wouldn't let us leave. This was the 60's and those guys had their beards down to their waists. They were judging us by old standards from the Qing Dynasty. The said we could leave because we hadn't given them a real performance yet. They were probably 90 years old and had Manuchrian tail styled hair, you know the old hair style from the Qing. Sifu
saw this and sent someone to get Shh MM Hung Monkey King" (nicknamed after the mythical god) from his village. This was a short guy under five feet who looked like a monkey, hence the monkey king nickname. He focused on acrobatic and monkey like kung fu.
"He came and Sifu told him and me what to do. He stood on the Tiger Fork and one, two three! I liftefd him up in the air . Standing on the fork he performed Monkey King Moves while I held him, keeping on turning the fei pah at the bottom, Turning, turning,, keep on turning.
Then Finally he jumped off with a flip and the old men watched and nodding gave us the the thumbs up, "Good Stuff."
Only then would they allow us to leave." he laughed.