See the lions dance

It's that time of the year again...In about 2 weeks time, Chinese all over the world welcome the Lunar New Year. One of the traditions that accompany this celebration is the lion dance - a traditional dance where two performers mimic's a lion's movements in an elaborate lion costume. One performer would hold up the head and be the front "paws" of the lion, while the other would be the hind "paws" of the lion. The performers would dance and perform acrobatic acts on poles, whilst the musicians play Chinese drums and cymbals.



The story behind the lion dance dates back to ancient China. Apparently, a monk dreamt that sorrows and evils would plague the land. The monk prayed and asked the gods how he could prevent these evils from occurring. The gods told him that a lion would protect them and fight back the evils. Since the Chinese people had never seen a lion before, but had heard stories that the lion was the king of all the other animals, the monk combined all the lucky or magical animals he could think of and made a lion. (Source: Wikepedia)

Anyway, my human was at a local shopping mall (without her favourite beagle, as dogs aren't allowed in malls), when she stumbled on the lion dance performance.

This first 1 minute+ video shows the lion dancing on poles, after a short suspenseful pause at the start... These performers' have amazing dexterity and agility!


The second short video shows two playful lions playing "football".


Enjoy!

Beagle teaser revealed

Sweet Molly and handsome Taffy
The first to guess correctly
Here is your well-deserved reward
The very first "Dog Series" award



Yes folks, my new pals, Molly and Taffy were the first doggie bloggers who correctly guessed the answer to the beagle teaser last Friday - "Doggie Bag". (Molly and Taffy, feel free to post this award on your blog.) Congratulations to the rest who also correctly guessed the answer to the beagle teaser. I decided to post the answer up earlier since there was already a correct guess. But, stay tuned on Thursday for a little twist to the bag!

A doggie bag is a bag given to a customer in a restaurant or to a guest at a party for putting leftovers in to take home. But do humans really take home the leftovers for their beloved dogs? What do they call the bag if the humans don't have dogs at home?

Shocking horrors...the food isn't actually for dogs...In fact, the term doggie bag is a so-called "transparent pretense" that the food is taken home to feed the customer's dog, when in fact it's for the humans! Now, if you were a beagle like me, who love food, you would protest over the use of this term. If you're going to use a doggie bag to bring food home, you better be bringing it for your dog! Don't you agree?


Just in case you're interested, here's some of the terms used when someone wants to bring left over food home or take away in the following languages:
1) Chinese (cantonese) - ta pau (pack)
2) Malay - bungkus (pack)
3) Thai - kap bahn (go home)
4) Mexican (Lorenza) - Para llevar
5) Japanese (Cookie and Cinnamon) - Ori (box for take away)


Do drop me a note if you know how to say "doggie bag" or "take away" in another language. I also had an earlier post on "Thank you" in 21 different languages, if you're interested to learn.

Mooncake - Yum...

Hi everyone! I can't believe I haven't blogged for 2 weeks... You guessed it - It's my human's fault of course! (isn't it always THEIR fault?). Anyway, I'm back again and will try to catch up with all your blogs soon.

Dad brought home a colourful box home one fine day last month. Of course, as the official sniffer in the household, it was my doggie duty to thoroughly check it out first.

I could smell something familiar...something I've tasted before. I tried to recall what it was...but to no avail. I couldn't open the box with my paws. Sigh...

Mum opened the box. It contained 4 mooncakes. Turns out that it was the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival last month. In Malaysia, it's also called the Mooncake festival. There are many stories behind the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mum remembers growing up hearing about the legend of the Jade Rabbit. She reckons if you stare at the moon, you can make out the shape of a rabbit... Of course, we all know that there are no rabbits in the moon! If you are interested, pop by Wikepedia to read about the festival and mooncakes.

Whilst my humans don't really celebrate the Mooncake festival, they can never resist buying a couple of mooncakes during the festival. Check out the beautiful floral design on the mooncake. It's traditionally made of lotus seed paste, although innovative chefs have used other fillings such as bean paste, jujube, taro and even ice cream (Yes - Haagen Daz Malaysia sells mooncake ice cream!). Traditionally, mooncake contains a duck egg yolk in the middle which symbolises the moon. For health reasons, many people opt for the plain mooncakes without the yolk.Mooncakes are yummy. How do I know that? I've tasted it before! No, my humans didn't feed me mooncakes. They reckon it's not good for dogs...I reckon they want the mooncakes for themself! A couple of years back, before they wised up to my tricks, my humans accidentally left a slice of mooncake on the living room table. Naturally, I did what all dogs would have done - I chomped it down!

For the purpose of this post, we have re-enacted the scene of the crime for our readers. Of course, back when it happened, my humans weren't around, so I chomped it down in seconds. This time, my human kept an eagle eye on me and gave me the "Leave" command. Sigh...such temptation! It's cruel, I tell you.

How to say "Thank you". The tally is now 21!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing how to say "Thank You" in other languages. The tally is now 21!

You may have noticed the captions under my awards section. The beautiful aspect about living in a multi-cultural society is that a lot of Malaysians are multi-lingual. My humans can speak English (international language), Bahasa Malaysia (national language) and Cantonese (Chinese dialect - mother tongue). They also picked up some basic Thai language when they lived in Bangkok. I only speak doggie and sign language, but my humans understand what my barks, whines, facial expressions and gestures mean.

Well, in case you're wondering what some of the words in the captions mean, I thought I'll give you some quick lessons on how to say "Thank You" in...

From Kess' Mama:
1) Bahasa Malaysia - Terima Kasih
2) Mandarin - Sieh Sieh
3) Cantonese - Toh Che
4) Thai - Kop Khun Kah (if you're a female) and Kop Khun Kap (if you're a male)
From Oorvi:
5) Urdu - Shukriya
6) Hindi -Dhanyawad
From Georgeous George Headley:
7) Italian - Grazie
8) Greek - Efkhareesto
From Thor:
9) Brazilian - Obrigada (if you're a girl) and Obrigado (if you're a boy)
From Sweet Jasmine:
10) Hokkien (another Chinese dialect) - Kam Siah Lu
From Amber Mae & River:
11) German - Danke
From Key West Collies:
12)Korean (Hangul) - Kamsahapnida
13) Hungarian (Magyar) - Köszönöm
14) Czech - Dĕkuju
From Maggie and Mitch:
15) French - Merci
From River:
16) Russian - Spasibo
From Lorenza:
17) Spanish - Gracias
From Happy & LS:
18) Japanese - Domo Arigato
19) Doggie - Wet licks (All dogs can relate to that!)
From Booker:
20) Northern England - Ta (Kess: Mum remembers this short form for "Thanks" fondly from her university days in Australia as the Aussies use this too.)
From CC:
21) Maori (New Zealand) - Tēnā rāwā atu koe