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| Standing below a cherry blossom tree (at Queensbay Mall, Bayan Lepas) |
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| A Chinese architecture house (at Queensbal Mall) |
The last day of Chinese New Year (the 15th day of the lunar calendar) (February 24) was just celebrated last night with activities ranging from tossing oranges to the "sea", performances and lastly fireworks. Over the past weeks, all the preparations and family as well as friends' gatherings had kept me very busy and away from my blogs.
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| Peonies symbolize wealth and honour as well as good fortune and happy marriage. |
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| The gazebo stop for tea (at Queensbay Mall) |
To sum up, 2013 Chinese New Year ushered in the year of water snake (according to the Chinese zodiac) on March 10. Chinese New Year marked the beginning of spring but in hot and humid Malaysia, it was almost the same season throughout the year. However, this year was not as hot as it used to be because it was cloudy most of the time and sometimes, it rained. Yes, it was a rare occurrence during Chinese New Year. Probably this was due to global warming that the weather had changed.
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| Sunrise on the first day of the lunar calendar |
When I was a kid, I really looked forward to the new year celebration as it promised delicious food and money (from red packets that I collected from the elderly and married cousins and relatives). Usually, we got to eat home-cooked traditional food such as tu toh (pigs' stomach) soup, kiam cai ark (salted vegetable with duck and trotter soup) and jiu hoo char (a vegetable dish of yam bean / jicama with shredded cuttlefish) with sambal (chilli) during the celebration. Not to mention also all types of cookies, cakes, chocolates and sweets that were served when we went house visiting.
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| A steamboat pot of food meant for a reunion gathering for my family |
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| Not to be missed... tossing of yee sang among family members during the celebration |
I still remembered vividly when we always looked forward to Chinese New Year because it also meant we got to watch nice Chinese movies on TV. Internet was not invented back then and going to cinemas for the latest movies was an expensive affair for us. So, we would enjoy watching the latest Chinese movies on TV during the new year. However, now the TV stations mostly aired repeated Chinese movies during this season. (Sigh)
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| Pineapple lanterns lit during the Emperor Jade prayer and celebration on the ninth day of the lunar calendar celebrated by mostly the Hokkien Chinese community |
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| The heavy responsibility held by the messenger leader to heaven and bringing all the good luck, good fortune and good health to us |
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| The altar full of food with a pair of sugarcane tied to the altar table for Emperor Jade celebration |
Back then, the best part was playing with fire crackers and fireworks after our dinner. We had stopped playing when we were adults. Furthermore, the ban of firecrackers in the recent years due to safety reason saw more kids only playing with fireworks. Despite the ban, occasionally during the 15-day new year celebration, one would hear the exploding of the "illegal" firecrackers. Besides that, the school would usually take a week break, so it meant more play time for us, the kids.
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