Thursday was the 2nd day of the 2nd month of the Lunar Year, a day also known as “The Dragon Raising His Head.” And when the dragon raises his head, little boys all across China have to get haircuts!
I ran across these great photos on the Tea Leaf Nation website, in a post titled “Images: Baby Haircut Mania Day.”
The next time kids will get their heads shaved is in the summer, when it is done to keep them cool.
Haha, we have seriously negative emotional associations with Dragon-Raising-It’s-Head-Day, because in addition to the hair cutting, it’s also time to start zhuangxiu-ing (renovations with Chinese characteristics). Normally the jackhammers in your apartment building for weeks on end is not a huge deal, but last year we had a toddler who napped at noon and the people directly above us decided to zhuangxiu. Now she hates anything louder than a coffee grinder and will probably require therapy when she’s older! 🙂 But aside from not being a toddler-nap-friendly day, there are still other interesting traditions, like the hair cutting.
http://chinahopelive.net/2011/03/08/the-dragon-has-raised-its-head-and-its-driving-us-insane
p.s. – I’m using Firefox and couldn’t post a comment unless i hit “Preview” first, and even then the little code box displayed incorrectly.
That is a very interesting tradition. The little guys in the first two pictures do not seem to be liking their haircuts.
Ah the jackhammers….I know them well. Keep her out of coffee shops!