Gung Hay Fat Choy!

February 14th, 2010 marked not only a day of love, but also a day of new beginnings, peace and happiness for everyone.

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity of traditional Chinese holidays. To prepare for this holiday people will spends heaps of money on presents, decorations, food and clothing. It is tradition for families to thoroughly clean their house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck (I've decided EVERYTHING you do in Southeast Asia is in hopes of gaining luck and fortune). Tradition says after 14 days of prepping and celebrating, people wake up after an evening of eating and fireworks to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year. They also pass out money in little red paper envelopes (again depending on your luck you may end up with a little or a lot of money).

For Chinese New Year I decided to brave the heat and crowds and head to Chinatown - I mean this may be the only time I am living in Asia during this holiday so might as well go big right? I kept hearing again and again "you should definitely go, but once you do, you'll never want to go back" - I think I now know why. Seriously I have never seen so many people in one place in my entire life. Streets and alleys where filled with people wearing red (again for luck), vendors and endless amounts of food. Temples, streets, stores and basically everything else in site were decorated with red and gold paper cut outs, streamers, and lanterns all portraying to one or more of the popular Chinese themes: "happiness", "wealth" and "longevity".



If it weren't for the insane number of people or the crazy hot temperature, I would have loved to stay longer to see the parade and performers, but after seeing the princess drive up to a temple in her mini cooper and witnessing a lady pull down her pants in the middle of the street to relieve herself, I felt I had accomplished what I came for. I came to the conclusion Chinatown in itself is a crazy place, let alone on the last full day of Chinese New Year celebrations. If I had to choose one word to describe it, it would be insane!

Today had to be one of my favorite days at school so far. The kids (and most of the staff) dressed up in traditional Chinese outfits and celebrated CNY all day long. It started with an assembly where speeches were told, traditional fan dances were performed, firecrackers were set off and a group of professional lion dancers gave us a great show - it was awesome (I think I might have enjoyed it more then some of the kids did). We then broke into groups and did crafts for the remainder of the morning. I lead the making of Chinese zodiac calendar wreaths. There were also paper lanterns, tiger puppets and Chinese fans to be made - all turned out great. Here are a few pictures from the day:





All in all the past 2 days of celebrating were well worth it. My hope is that I can do my best to follow the Chinese New Year tradition of reconciling all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone around me.