We were in the mall on Chinese New Year's Day (2/14) and happened to catch this performance (see link to video, below). Each lion was a team of 2: one person was the head and front legs, the other was the body and hind legs. Their acrobatics on these 10 foot poles was really quite amazing, the video really doesn't do it justice, but hopefully it will be fun for you to watch anyway. Some of you have already seen this video on Facebook but for those of you for whom it's new, enjoy!
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0IZtXDVq0ZMX4A
The retail celebration of Lunar New Year has continued to entertain me. There are many vendors that seem to set up in the shopping centers specifically to sell traditional New Year's fare. It always makes me think of Hickory Farms because they seem to be the ones that most recognizably only appear in the malls at Christmas but instead of the petit fors and summer sausage, the Malaysian kiosks have a lot of things I don't recognize: dried fruits and jerkies, crispy potato and rice treats - always in clear plastic jars with red tops as red is the color of luck: it symbolizes fire which drives away bad luck; and some that I do: pineapple tarts that we sampled in Melacca and they were quite yummy, and Chinese Love letter cookies: sweet butter-sugar cookies. Doubly yummy!
Pineapple tarts 
Chinese Love Letter cookies, sometimes folded, sometimes rolledThese items were found in almost every vendor's set up but there was another item that I saw everywhere and it really made me laugh: the ever popular, traditional Chinese Famous Amos chocloate chip cookies! It seemed to always be the biggest display. Or maybe it just stuck out more to me because, other than the Mandarin oranges (of course!) it was the only item not packaged in clear plastic with a red top!
The Lunar New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice and the celebration lasts for 2 weeks. I was unable to find an explanation for the 2 week duration but feel free to celebrate until the end of February, if you wish. There are so many traditions and practices associated with it that it makes my head spin and I can't even begin to share them with you: foods you are supposed to eat or not eat, things you are supposed to say or not say, gifts you are supposed to give or not give, but one thing I am sad to say I did not learn about in time: on Lunar New Year's Day you are not to clean/sweep the house as it is believed that you risk sweeping away the luck that has accumulated, apparently on your floors and tv set? I never thought of dustbunnies and dried blueberry yogurt as lucky, and I kicked Heinz and the kids out of the house Sunday morning so that I could scrub my floors in peace! If only I had known, I could have put my feet up and ignored it all for one more day!
Gong Xi Fa Cai, y'all!
No comments:
Post a Comment