Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Gong Xi Fa Cai !!!

We've been seeing red, the past few weeks ! ! Everywhere you go, there are beautiful red lanterns dancing in the wind and red banners put up. It's the Chinese New Year and our apartment complex and most of Singapore, has been bathed in red, the lucky color for the chinese.

symbolic firecrackers hung outside our apartment lobby....to scare away Nian, a beast who comes out of hiding, once every year on Chinese new year to attack people, especially children. The Nian is sensitive to loud noises and afraid of the color red. I could send my children to every house for the decibel factor but then the locals already have the LION dance. Two people dressed as the lion perform the dance in each house, ushering in prosperity for that year and scaring away the evil. The dance is a treat to watch for the energy the dancers display. People hang a fruit with a red envelope containing money, and the lion is supposed to display its acrobatic skill in reaching the money and spitting out the fruit/lettuce.








These mandarin oranges, a symbol of prosperity, have been placed outside each apartment block lobby.




So as they say here, wishing you guys, Gong Xi Fa Cai, or Happy New Year and as its literal translation says, "wish you enlarge your wealth" !


people waiting in China town to usher in their new year...and its the year of the ox, this time.
And just so that you don't miss out, i give you a red back ground and pictures....how nice can i be, right?

21 comments:

Compassion Unlimitted said...

Thats a nice colurful post..Chinese newyear with its good share of RED is definitely eye catching...Enjoy
TC
CU

Just Like That said...

Gongggg.......! to you too :-D The decorations are lovely, aren't they?

--xh-- said...

wow, this is wonderfully colorful :-D wish you happy new year too :-D

Mama - Mia said...

i though i was imagining all the red! :p

it all looks so gorgeous and totally festive!!

HNY!

cheers!

abha

Kavi said...

Year of the ox ! Now, thats something to ponder about !

Wonderful pictures !

:)

broca's area said...

looks like fun:)....happy new yr!!

Pavi!!!! said...

wooowieeeeee!!! so colorful...so RED!!! i guess this is wat the literal meaning of painting the town read is!
Wish u n ur family a Very Happy Chinese New Year!!

rayshma said...

is the red theme continued thru val day?
coz this is about the time i rethink about my fave color! :D

HABBY CHINESE NOO YEARRR!!!

may you enlarge your wealth. and let us know if u're thinking of enlarging ur family! ;)

pink dogwood said...

happy new year!! cool pictures :)

aMus said...

@ CU...

thanks


@JLT
that was quite a mouthful, wasn't it? :D


@xh:
it WAS a riot of colors....

@mama-mia...
Red is teh color of the month...it does look festive...and everytime i upload photos i think of you :P

@kavi::
yes, its the year of the ox, my son is an ox, so i anticipate a vey eventful year :)


@ brocas::
it was fun, and teh four day weekend was even better :)

@pavi!!!!
how right you are! :)


@rayshma::
that's supposed to be my dialogue to you...;)


@pink dogwood...
thanks, Happy new year to you too...

WhatsInAName said...

Great GONG :) You just added to my dwindling GK
HaPPY Gongsing! And hope you enlarge your wealth too and stay healthy too :)
Nice red blog now :)

Rambler said...

what about the new year food?..anything interesting on that front?

Aarthi said...

Gong Xi Fa Cai...

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you found me!! yeah, I lost a few blogs in the switch...been pretty busy and haven't been on my blog much anyway :) stop by when you can!
those are awesome pics!

Monika said...

Wow Suma, loved your blog. So delightful.
Gong Xi Fa Cai
Awesome pics. Gotta visit Singapore soon :)

Shruti said...

uiiii.. makes me feel like I was right there! :D

ceedy said...

Yayy yAyy

thanks for sharing the new year...btw I am an ox...so is this my year and will "gong xi fa cai" happen to me?

Anonymous said...

Your blog is a riot of colour and run right now. A real joy to visit.

Upkaran said...

Red is indeed the Gods Color……… Hummm give me an idea to all some more Red in my wardrobe……… HA Ha ha…… Just Kidding …… Joy

Mama - Mia said...

write a new post already!!!

:P

Deepali said...

Chinese culture is quite interesting :)