Dragon Iconography. (#3)

Photos of Chinese New Year 2005 in Denver:



From my fictional novel A Western Capitol Hill:

Chinese New Year. Firecrackers explode by the hundreds at a few Asian restaurants along Federal Boulevard in Denver. A Vietnamese Catholic woman who oversees Phee Fi Pho, a Vietnamese noodle-soup restaurant catering to Western customers, stands outside of her establishment, looking down upon the goings-on as primitive, misguided.

But the Denver Dragon finds it fascinating. The explosions tear at the inner fabric of ears and fill patrons’ lungs with sulfur smoke. Charred paper parachutes from the air. A team of men and women, who have donned a dragon costume – a couple of them encased in the head, the rest holding up sections of the tail – dance. Then, the head of the dragon takes a “bite” out of a cabbage that hangs from beneath the restaurant’s entryway.