The Call
Date: Sept. 7, 2016
By: Erica Moser
PAWTUCKET – A crowd from diverse ethnic backgrounds, coming from within Pawtucket and much
Photo: Ernest A. Brown photo/The Calll
The competitive dragon boat race finish line kept eyes fixed on the river at the annual Chinese Dragon Boat Races and Taiwan Day Festival at Festival Pier in Pawtucket Saturday.
farther away, sat eagerly in the tent at Festival Pier. They were surrounded by more than 200 translucent, foot-long flags, an alternating pattern of Taiwanese and American national colors.
Onto the stage walked several members of the Rhode Island Kung-Fu Club, a few with cymbals and one with a barrel-shaped drum.
After they began playing, out came 10 people inside five lion costumes. They moved up and down and side to side, and the crowd cheered when one person stood on another’s shoulders.
The lion dance is a Taiwanese cultural tradition that is symbolic of “good luck, positive energy [and] spreading good posterity and wealth, financial and otherwise,” said Louis Yip. [FULL STORY]