Year of Snakesss

GONG HEI FATT CHOI!!!

Chinese New Year is one big celebration for all the Chinese, so called Lunar New Year. Why so? Because the big day falls on the first day of lunar calendar. *lame* =p  Now let me explain more, to many of China’s contemporary, the term Chinese New Year is somewhat undesirable, mostly for lack of imagination. Putting a “Chinese” before a widely known noun to indicate its Chinese counterpart has been rather a cliche  like calling our 肉夹馍 “Chinese hamburger” and 烧饼 “Chinese pizza”. whatever la!!

Conclusion, CHINESE NEW YEAR defines it all.

Whichever version of the story you favor,  the activity of celebrating the CNY is called Guo Nian (过年) , meaning getting through the year and you survived!!

What occasion during the CNY celebration?

The celebration took 15 days long bloodlines in a row. From the first day (初一) where AngPao's, Lion Dance, Red Lanterns, Fire Crackers, Mandarins and Feast..... *drooling again* ( i just finish my breakfast) can be seen all over until it ends on the 15th day (初十五) which is CHAP GOH MEI. On the 9th day (初九)of CNY, the Hokkien community celebrates Bai Tian Kong(拜天公), their most significant event of the year - Jade Emperor’s Birthday. Preparation for prayers starts from 11pm on the 8th day of Chinese New Year and the celebration continues until the day after. For them, it is a kind of thanksgiving, marking the new year for the Hokkien community. My favorite part is when the heavenly crispy Siew Yok (烧猪肉) is one of the main dishes served.

Mostly activities been done during CNY :

• Travelling to one’s hometown, regardless of the massive crush of a billion people all travelling on the same day of the year (CNY is the largest migration of humanity on the planet) means traffic jam and crowded humans!!
• Meeting up your cousins which is the best one =]
• Wearing your very best fancy clothes 
• Visit all the grandpas & grandmas, clean their houses and prepare grand feasts of the new year.
• Set off lots and lots and lots of unfeasibly large and loud fireworks (pretty much from dawn to dawn for more than a week).
• Enjoy many family get-togethers, and enjoy great food and alcohol. 
• Play mahjong (not all, but most families play) through the first night, HUAT ar!!! Honestly to say, i dont even know how the pictures works, shy
• Visit all one’s relatives in town, delivering greetings and gifts of mandarin, snacks and BAK KUA. (my daddy give the same thing every year) 
• Meet old friends and classmates who are scattered across the country but coming back to the hometown for the celebration

This year, im travelling all the way back to Kelantan with my parents. Since most of all the relatives belong there. So we are the one who do the travelling. Despite of the traffic, it was a fun week to spend with your close one. Pictures will be post in upcoming post. Cant wait.. 

  A Card for all the readers (dll from shutterstock)