A New Year - Part 2

Despite the light hearted post earlier, Chinese New Year celebration is actually a serious affair. The importance of the reunion dinner to renew kinship is paramount I would say. We read about how the Chinese migrant workers try to journey back to their hometown (they only go back once a year) but was stranded in the city due to bad weather conditions. Is that just ordinary news? Or has the importance of it all been eluded?

Here in Malaysia, it is supposed to celebrate spring, as a new beginning, with flowers blooming (real and not real ones at that). And back to the point of reunion dinners, Petronas over the years has done a series of advertisements during such festive periods to highlight the cultural importance of such events. I happened to see one earlier on and it caught my attention immediately. Please catch it here. It is extremely touching.

How did I spend my new year? Essentially, helped decorate the house (again, signs and symbols), rested and caught up on news with my immediate family, cousins, etc. Also took the opportunity during this long break to catch up on my watching of TV series, and managed to cover Survivor China, Kyle XY Season 1 and most of Kyle XY Season 2 (FINALLY!!!). Good shows these. Also, went visiting around houses of uncles and aunties, and so, will leave it here with one or two pics for now.

Flowers at my grandaunty's house. The name of this flower in Chinese has a connection to "chicken". Forgot what exactly already. It's tradition to go visit during the 1st day of Chinese New Year. She will cook up a storm even during her advanced age (she's more than 80 years old), and every year, she will prepare my favourite, a peanut kuih. I got to "ta pau" this year somemore! But now I know that one of my uncle and a cousin-in-law also like this kuih. So, I guess it is made not just for me!

Decor at one of my uncle's house. Every year, this particular uncle will "grandly" decorate his house, using angpow packets to make fans, etc. This year is not an exception, with this showing the year of the rat.

This year also, my aunty who stays with my parents went on an overdrive mode with fishes. That is, making fishes with angpow packets. Truth be told, some are actually quite nice, but can be a bit of an overkill with so many fishes about. Then again, it's back to signs and symbols. And yes, I did learn how to make this particular paper fish, but didn't do any fishes this year. I did make a set of firecrackers using angpow packets last year, but this year, somehow, I stayed away from handicrafts. Hmm, must pick up the motivation next year. One thing I have never learnt is how to make Chinese Lanterns using angpow packets. A friend said he knew how to make, since he learnt it whilst studying in a chinese school, but has so far refused to teach me. Bummer.

Of hampers and what nots also, these days, the creativity is astounding. The intricacies of the hamper, the design, and the whole package of it all, I simply marvel at times. More so from the office, when gifts arrive at such festive periods, and you can hear the "oohs" and the "aahs" from many an office corner once the hampers have been sighted. Well, this is one hamper my elder sister self decorated to give to my grandaunty for Chinese New Year. Goodies galore inside. Yummy!