It’s the first day of Chinese New Year today. So, 恭禧發財 kung hei fat choi - happy new year!
As we’re only a quarter Chinese between us, Mr C and I don’t really do much to celebrate Chinese New Year, although we had a Chinese take-away for dinner tonight! We spoke to Mr C’s family in Malaysia yesterday, including his Chinese grandma, who was using Skype for the first time. It was nice to be able to see her via the wonders of the Internet, even though we couldn’t see her in person. Fortunately, Mr C’s mum didn’t make us sing the Gong Xi song (I quite like the klezmer feel to this version!) over Skype!
Last year, we were in Malaysia, so we did a bit more celebrating, mainly by eating lovely food and watching lion dances, which is a traditional thing to do at new year. Lots of shops, shopping malls and hotels in Malaysia host lion dances, as they’re supposed to bring good fortune to the business. Here are some pictures from last year’s CNY:
Last year was the year of the rabbit - there were lots of rabbits everywhere, including some rather large ones outside the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur.
The lions get ready to go into the Central Market, Kuala Lumpur
A lion dance in one of the shopping malls. This one was particularly acrobatic and impressive as the lions were dancing on little platforms.
Lion dances are often very loud - lots of crashing cymbals and ringing of loud bells.
Decorations in the shopping mall (of which there are many in Kuala Lumpur)
The lions go round the crowd giving out oranges, for good luck.
It's traditional to have a crysanthamum plant in the house at Chinese New Year.
Happy Chinese New Year!
It’s educational reading your posts. I didn’t know about all these traditions and haven’t heard the ‘Gong Xi’ song before – it has a very catchy tune. I thought it had a ‘klesmer’ feel to it as well (though I had to look up what klesmer meant).