That is Cantonese for "Happy New Year", which we are part way through. It has been a fascinating and exciting time, and I was thankful to take a seminar all about the traditions to help our understanding of it. The greeting you hear most of all is "Gung Hei Fat Choi" with means good wealth, may your wealth continue to grow, which certainly seems to be the focus of the celebrations. What I do like is that it is all about gathering as a family without the commercialism and buying presents of Christmas.
Here is the group of us at the seminar.... It is only the Western World that calls it the Chinese New Year - it is actually Cheun Jit (Spring Festival) and is the first 15 days of the lunar new year. The legend goes that a sea monster, Nian, would leave the sea and enter a village on New Year's Eve to eat the villagers. The villagers quickly learned to leave the village that night. One year, an old man passed through town, and dispute warnings to leave with them, he stayed to fight off Nian. When the villagers returned the next day, the old man was fine and had scared away Nian with red and gold couplets hung on each side of the door way, and by lighting firecrackers when Nian arrived, hence scaring him off. Since then, the Chinese have been doing these traditions, plus more, to scare away the evil spirits as the new year starts.
It all starts five days prior to the new year, with the opening of New Year Fairs. Everyone must visit, and even up to midnight if they had not gotten there before. I visited on a Friday around noon, and was very glad (because of the crowds) not to have gone that evening or Saturday.
As you can see, so many of the things for sale are about wealth...
There are also many flowers for sale, and once again you buy the flowers for your desires for the new year - peach blossoms if you want a new relationship this year (I didn't buy that one Jeff was relieved to learn), water narcissus for health and orchids for good fortune. Everywhere we saw little tangerine trees that were supposed to bring good fortune also. (in the picture)
In Hong Kong they have outlawed firecrackers, so people hang stings of fake firecrackers on the outside of their doors to keep the evil spirits away. Here is a picture of what they look like. Before mid-night on New Year's Eve everyone cleans their house to sweep away all the evil spirit from the past year, and that, coupled with the firecrackers, will keep new evil spirits from coming into their homes or places of business. The family gathering happens New Year's Eve, and everyone comes home for it. In Hong Kong people had three days off, but so many people were gone all week that the streets were noticeably not as busy. On the Mainland people get a week or two off, which has lead to the largest mass migration of people - and it happens every year.
Right after midnight, people try to be the first to light their incense in the temples to get the best good fortune in the new year. If your sign is a bad combination for the year, this is really important. So - this is the year of the dragon, which is supposed to be good for markets and is powerful, but will be unlucky for you if you are a dog or a dragon. People will make numerous trips to the temple to try and change their luck.
The second day of the New Year is the night for fireworks, as Hong Kong goes all out for these! 25 minutes! Enjoy just the last few minutes:
We were fortunate enough to go to dinner with our friends for the fireworks, so had a lovely evening...well, other than the cold! We ate outside, under heaters and wore warm clothes. Okay, 6-10 degrees isn't cold, however nothing is insulated or heated, so we got cold! (flashbacks to Oruro.....brrrrrr) The God of Fortune was there handing out little money candies, and it is good luck to touch him. I am with my friend Caroline, and new friends from Spain, Rita and her girls Sarah and Marie. The men were obediently taking the pictures.
During the first three days of the New Year there are things you cannot do - sweep the floor (I took great advantage of that!) or you may sweep away the good spirits that have arrived. You also cannot wash or cut your hair for the same reason (we did wash our hair), you cannot buy new shoes because when you sit to try on the shoes your sigh sounds like "hai" which encourages the evil spirits. The list goes on and on.
The decorations are spectacular, both the big and the small.....
One of the most confusing traditions for us westerners is the giving of Lai See packages.
These are traditionally red packets and hold money that you want to give someone for the new year. It is very 'clear' who to give them to...well, clear to those who have been here for many many years....an adult who is unmarried, people who regularly help you out (like all the door people and security at our building) a boss give to employees, who get double if they are single and more. We handed out our Lai See in these packages:
It is the word "fok" which means luck. The symbols are - on the left, the symbol for clothes, and on the right there are three symbols - the symbol for one is on the top, then mouth, then rice field...basically meaning may you have enough clothes and food this year. You start giving these out the first day of the New Year, and boy, were the staff at our building around that day! I was happy that all my favorites were there to give the Lai See to, since they are very friendly and put up with my practicing my Cantonese.
As you wander the streets, there are lion dances happening, which also is about scaring away evil spirits. Dragon dances are to bring good weather, for the crops, but lion dances are around at the beginning of the new year to scare away the evil spirits. These performers were actually brought into the courtyard of our building. Enjoy - I am always amazed by what these athletes can do!
Just to give you perspective, this is how high up the yellow lion was!
It has all been great fun, and there is much more to share, but I think that is probably enough for you to sift through. We have many more pictures if you want to see them sometime.
What did have me pause and reflect on was the focus on luck, and changing your bad luck. They take this very seriously, as the baby boom of the year of the dragon will reflect. What do you think about this luck - can you change it, does it exist at all? Oh, there are times we feel unlucky...drop coffee on our clothes, trip on a sidewalk, miss an appointment because of traffic...but is this really luck? Are there things you do to try and change your luck? A routine you go through? Hmmmm...just got me thinking, that's all
We are ready for what happens next in Hong Kong! Thanks for sharing the journey with us,
As promised in the trailer, we have returned with a brief movie about our experience and fun in Thailand over Christmas. Sarah and Chris had two requests when we asked what they wanted to do....Sarah wanted to ride elephants and Chris wanted to go scuba diving, and Thailand has both!
The hotel was lovely...but missing the house phone
the weather was fine, but a little windy as you saw in the trailer,
Christmas Eve
Boxing Day
and there were live musicians most evenings. Quite entertaining!!
Thailand is full of rich culture, that we unfortunately did not really have time to explore
There are many stories, so ask Sarah and Chris....
Sit back and relax (like we did) and enjoy the trip!!
Hope you have enjoyed a peek at our Christmas, in Thailand and Hong Kong. The Chinese New Year has arrived, so keep looking for a blog entry on that amazing event very soon.
A happy and joyful New Year to each and everyone one of you....love you all,
Linda and Jeff
Christmas may seem a long time ago, yet the memories are still fresh and still warm our hearts. Hopefully your memories are doing the same for you.
Our Christmas started 6 am, Dec 21st when the Wolfe cubs landed in Hong Kong. YEH!!!!! We spent a few days in Hong Kong, headed to Thailand Dec 23-28, then the last few days back in Hong Kong until they flew out Jan 1st. The time was too short, went by too quickly, and yet we treasured every moment.
During out time in Hong Kong, we tried to show some highlights of touristy things to Sarah and Chris, and let them just enjoy the day to day parts of the city as we do. We wandered a number of neighbourhoods that represent different aspects of this city, like traditional Sheung Wan with the unidentifiable dried items, busy Central, crowded Causeway Bay and really crowded Mong Kok (this area is THE most densely populated place in the world).
Chris contemplating his future
Two kids in a candy store
We travelled on the tram up the Peak, and then walked back down to our home.
It was an early start - yeh Starbucks!
The Big Buddha is REALLY BIG
Another day we took a ferry over to Lantau Island to visit the Big Buddha, a monastery and have lunch there. We then headed home via the cable car.
Other things include eating in a crowded noodle shop, visiting Hong Kong Zoological park to see the monkeys, celebrating my birthday at the world's highest bar, dim sum lunch (small dumplings served in steamers), traditional turkey dinner on New Year's Eve, joining a HUGE crowd for the countdown to 2012, and so much more. In fact, we did so many things, we had to do a video for you to show it all. Enjoy!
In the middle of this, we went to Thailand. More to come on that part of our Christmas time together. While you are waiting, watch the trailer!!
As the trailer advertised, come back January 23rd to see the full length feature!
Love you all - and miss the cubs very very much :(
As you can see, so many of the things for sale are about wealth...
