February 6, 2011
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Chinese / Lunar New Year Recap
I took a day off last week and hung out with J to celebrate CNY. We did pretty well the same thing as last year and went to a couple of temples on New Year's Eve and on New Year's day. The pictures are pretty well the same as last year (I was tempted to recycle them ...). Most of the activities in the temples were very similar to last year. They had food and drinks, flowers, foodstuff, and souvenirs.
Girl perched on dad's shoulder watching lion dance.
The lion reaching for the red envelope. You can see the guy in the back holding the red envelope on a stick. If you look closely, you can just see the red envelope in the mouth of the dragon and the finger navigating the red pouch in.
Flowers:
Food:
Wishing Tree: you select a wish and it gets hung on the branches by the volunteers.
calligraphy:
The next day at another temple. The smoke is from the incense.
That was it, thankfully the weather was cooperating although it was a bit cold.
Comments (26)
looks like a fun time
Red & Gold!
And I love watching dragon dance!
Taiwanese rice pudding doesn't look too much like pudding haha
Beautiful -- I love the Chinese New Years traditions!
That is very festive! Wish u and J good health, as I assume that was what you selected to be hung on the lovely branches.
What a festive way to start the Rabbit Year! I think it's a good practice that you and J do this every year, that would definitely bode well for the relationship!
@Roadlesstaken - It's not rice pudding.
@yang1815 - that makes sense!
Looks like a great celebration - love the colors and the dance.
Looks like a fun celebration! I love all of the red and other bright colors. It's so cheery for a winter holiday!
it's never as festive here in indonesia. well, it is after all a muslim country.
Happy Chinese New Year! I'm glad you were able to check out the Lion Dance. :]
Were you able to try the different foods there?
Oh and the last picture under 'flowers', were those onions?
Happy New Year and thank you for not recycling!
@buddy71 - it was pretty good, but it was kinda cold.
@oxyGENE_08 - the event indoors was very cramped and packed with people. That was the only downside. A lot of folks bumping into each other - difficult to get a good picture.
@Roadlesstaken - yeah, I wasn't sure what it really was.
@slmret - I think you would have enjoyed taking pictures at these places.
@stevew918 - I only recognize the last character so I think that's sun tay geen hong. If so, that's what we picked. Happy New Year to you too Steve and hope this will be another year of good fortune, good health and good times.
@CurryPuffy - thanks, do you and W do something similar?
@yang1815 - what exactly is it? It looks like sticky rice.
@Fatcat723 - lots of drums, cymbals, incense and colours! It was packed on the first night and it was indoors. The second temple was ok. There weren't a lot of "fun" events (aside from chanting and stuff). But it was cold.
@TheCheshireGrins - yeah, it was a nice break from work!
@rudyhou - ah yes, that would be low key . I hope you and your family / friends were able to find some time to celebrate.
@Devilzgaysianboi - I had dinner just before we got to the temple so I wasn't too hungry. Those flowers are daffodils that haven't bloomed yet.
@AppsScraps - Happy New Year to you and G!
That's a finger? I thought it was the dragon's tongue! Ha ha... Happy new year to you!
KHFC and SSSS to you! tat's an enjoyable CNY day off!!, and yes...tks for not recycling the old pics, the wishing tree, reminds me of the one at Tai Po in HKG
@christao408 - and a Happy New Year to you and Tawn!
@agmhkg - Happy New Year to you too! I've always wondered about the history of the wishing tree. I've never heard of it until a couple of years ago. I'll have to Google that and see what it looks like.
Beautiful =D
@Hinase - thank you, appreciate the rec too.
@ElusiveWords - No problem. I think Chinese New Year is pretty amazing as well as the entire culture of the Chinese. I'm kind of jealous lol
@ElusiveWords - Yeah it's based on sticky rice. They take the sticky rice and pound it like mochi, put it in a bowl and add the stuff then steam it.
I wish I'd taken more advantage of Lunar New Year here. It's only a family holiday here, and they're not very big into taking foreigners in, so i didn't see much of the traditional stuff.
Dang Matt, I wanted to wish you a happy New Year three days back. I don't know why my brain takes a walkabout at odd times. I hope you have a wonderful New Year, and may all your wishes come true.
Love the pictures and the colors. The flowers and the wish tree. How cool is all that!
@secade - I think of you when there are holidays and how isolating it can be. I also know you can adapt to changes too.
@ZSA_MD - oh thank you for the greetings. Don't worry - I understand the holiday period is about 2 weeks. I had dinner with my dad on Sunday and everyone in the restaurant was still exchanging greetings.
really cool pictures man!! thought i have no idea what ethnicity you are, as an asian person i must say that i participated in very few festivities this year. kind of sad actually. after seeing these photos though, i'll be sure to push myself harder to go to the festivities next year. =)
@bengozen - I'm Canadian of Chinese descent.