la_belle_laide | Sixth Generation Greed Cloud Bai Si

Our Bai Si tea ceremony took place on 9/11. Originally, it was supposed to be 8/28, but then of course a hurricane came and blew us away.

My Mom came with me, and she brought Dad's wallet and shield, which I thought was really awesome. She took all the pics, too.

I was ridiculously nervous before the ceremony, wondering if we were all going to have to demo something, say a speech, or anything like that. But really it was quite simple. We did the tea ceremony just as I remembered it from last time, when I saw it a few years ago (when Gold Dragon, Empress, Quick-Wit Boy and a few others got inducted into Sixth Generation.) We all sit in front of Sifu, hear a few speeches from him and from other Sifus on the meaning of Kung Fu, the lineage, where our style comes from, what it means to be inducted, etc. This way the people in the audience get a good idea of what's going on, too.

And then we bring incense to the ancestral wall, which had pictures / paintings of Si-Gung and Jo-Si (meaning, your Sifu's Sifu and his Sifu before him, etc.) Everyone takes a turn bowing three times to the altar and then putting incense in front of it.

Then, we all line up and offer tea to Sifu. He accepts the tea, and off we go, again to the altar to say thanks. That's it! The whole thing took a few hours.

Sifu also explained to everyone why he chose the people he did. This part is nice, because you get to hear excellent things about your friends, and of course, also about yourself. It's hard not to blush when it's your turn. When Sifu was talking about, say, Snarklit being "a good man in every sense of the word," and Chrysanthemum being "a pioneer in martial arts" and the Empress being "the rock that Green Cloud is built on," all I could do was sit there and nod in fervent agreement.

When it came to be my turn, I knew it was going to get emotional, and of course, it was. Sifu spoke about how I had lost my Dad, and everything looked really bleak. He said that he watched as I picked myself up, finished school, got my degree, got a job, etc. In the middle of all of this, he burst into tears, and then so did Empress, and of course I'm standing up there trying my best not to do the same. (This is why I should never wear makeup, haha.) He said he was honored to take the role of "father" whenever he could.

He said that, like Chrysanthemum, I was a pioneer in martial arts, because it is still such a male dominated sport. And that I was never afraid to show up for sparring and get knocked around with the best of them.

I never really thought of it before, aside from once in a while noticing that Chrysanthemum, Empress and I are often the only women in this huge class, surrounded by big, muscle-y, sweaty boys and men. Yet there's not a single guy in the school who could take Empress in a fight. ^_^ Except Sifu, that is.

Sixteen people were inducted in this ceremony. That makes Twenty-two in all. Out of twenty-two, four of us are women. (One of them was inducted a long time ago and no longer teaches.) This isn't because Green Cloud doesn’t tend to induct women (two of GC’s most famous, decorated practitioners are women,) but because not a lot of women join. As Sifu pointed out, statistically, women tend to join the kickboxing class rather than Kung Fu.

Kung Fu isn’t for every woman, just like marriage, kids, cycling, boxing, fishing, writing, cooking, dating, celibacy, fashion, ANYTHING isn't for every woman. But it is for me, and I’m very honored to be a part of this group.

Mom and I before anyone else got there:

Hanging around before the ceremony:

Everyone has to bow to the ancestral wall, with incense:

I just thought this picture was so awesome:

Homeslice bringing his tea to Sifu:

My turn to bring tea:

Snarklit:

"What does your certificate say?" (LMAO, the guy behind me.)

Actually, what does it say?

After the ceremony, Maximus was showing me a cool sparring move:

"My finger points!"

Two of my besties right here. Lady Chrystanthemum, Snarklit, and me:

The after-party!

Lady Chrysanthemum, Snarklit, and the Gold Dragon:

LOL at Snarklit. Every time I aim a camera at him, he does that.

Me and me Ma!

And the beautiful Empress!

Umm, yeah, she was wearing massive high heels, haha.

We always have to take this ridiculous picture, every time we all get together:

It's kind of like our own ancient tradition.

Chrystanthemum, me, Snarklit, Quick-witted Boy, and the Gold Dragon.

(See, I met Quick Witted Boy when he was really just a boy. I think he was 12. Now he's all grow'd up and in college. Yikes! Stupid time, what does it want?!)

Snarklit, Quick-Wit, Chrystanthemum, Gold Dragon, me, Te Ji Nan, Ginger Assassin, Homeslice, and Blackbelt Boy.

(I don't know Blackbelt Boy all that well. Remember that the folks from our eastern school only merged with the folks from the western school last year.)

And of course, Snarklit, Quick-Wit, Chystanthemum, Dragon, and myself.