The air is filled with holiday magic. Chinese Lunar New Year requires days of
preparation which include cleaning, decorating, cooking, and buying new
clothes. The current shopping frenzy
provides a delightful view for us. We
can only deduct that Chinese New Year is similar to our Christmas
celebration. I’ll share what we see now and
add the actual celebration at a later date.
Visiting the open markets before Chinese New Year was sheer
delight. Several small shops are dedicated to New Year merchandise.
The brilliant reds and golds show through to create a
festive feeling, even on this rainy day in the outdoor market.
Every type of hanging décor imaginable can be found in these
specialty shops.
Need new pillows?
Sprucing up the home is part of preparing for the lunar New Year. Our legal secretary took a day of personal
leave to clean her house. This tradition
parallels our pattern of spring cleaning.
She reminded us of this tradition as cleaning out the old and preparing
for the new. She told us how hard she
worked to finish the task in one day, no vacation time for Jennifer.
Children receive new clothes for the holiday.
I was tempted to buy some beautiful clothes for my
grandchildren.
The old Peninsula Hotel is my favorite. The lanterns are particularly beautiful glowing
in the dark of night.
I like this shot looking upward at the lantern display.
The Area Presidency gave all employees and missionaries
these beautiful bags with a box of nougat candies and beef jerky (it is the
year of the ox). Apparently, the word
“nougat” sounds much like the word “ox” in Chinese. Clever!
Most business doorways are adorned with these tiny orange trees. The
oranges taste bitter. What a waste. Note the traditional red envelopes hanging
from the branches. They contain a small
money bill given as a token of appreciation.
This BMW dealership decorated with the traditional two
orange trees outside the door. Notice
the larger oranges, more of a mandarin type.
No one would dare pick them – again, what a waste.
Our lobby displays traditional lanterns.
Rick stand in front of the pink-blossomed tree loaded with
money envelopes (which are probably empty and only for display).
We visited the flower show in Victoria Park. It was a smaller version of the usual event
but everything was splendid. Flowers are
an important part of the holiday. I
adore this segment of celebrating the New Year.
We’ve watched people carry large armloads of various floral types and
arrangements. I’ll share only a few of
the beauties we saw at the show.
Remember the doorways adorned with orange trees? This little girl chooses one that is more her
size. Many homes use the smaller version
as a symbol of good luck.
I assume these are kumquats?
They have formed small “bushes” and larger “trees” from this fruit. They are even more festive when twigs of
bright red berries are added to the arrangement.
Pussy willows!! The
lovely limbs were dyed in every bright color imaginable.
ORCHIDS!!!!
I could never include all the colors and varieties of
orchids we’ve seen. This represents a
small sampling of the loose blooms for sale.
Bright baubles add to the arrangements of lovely flowers.
This represents a common display on many tables and office
desks. Orchids combined with the
symbolic new year tassels in mostly red and gold with additional fetishes attached.
My red envelopes are prepared. Only new money is placed inside. $20 HKD is about $2.50 is USD. We will give these to our employee’s children
and any other young people or single employees.
It’s almost like combining Christmas and Halloween into one holiday.
Cuisine plays an important part in any celebration. The fruit varieties have tempted us
daily. Cherries, most likely from Australia,
fill the markets and prices are reasonable.
The Chinese would never celebrate without some type of “choy”.
I don’t know anything about this fruit. However, I do believe I’ve seen it in one of
our temple films.
Turnips and radishes – yes, they are this big.
Bernard, an employee from the finance department, brought
this radish pie his mother made for us.
I don’t know all the ingredients but it is very heavy and we’ve
identified shredded radish, rice flour, dried shrimp, and a few unknown
items. Bernard suggested we steam of fry
it. We appreciate his kind
thoughtfulness. It’s joyful to learn of
the local traditions and cuisine.
We’ve tried frying and steaming the radish pie. I’ve also cooked it in sweet and sour
sauce. The possibilities are endless for
the interesting taste and texture of this local treat.
We can’t explain the pink cat décor at North Point. In the year of the ox we’re uncertain of the
part the cat plays. But, we couldn’t
resist a photo to share. Any meaning we
are missing here??
