Sadly tomorrow is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations and this is also my last post for the Chinese New Year theme. Hope you all have fun reading my blog posts from making Chinese New Year lantern crafts to foods!
Chinese New Year Goodies in Chinatown
Today, I would like to take you on a journey to see Chinese New Year goodies found in Singapore Chinatown. Living there for over 20 years and going to Chinatown in Outram Park is one of my highlights and recommendations to soak in the new year atmosphere.
Since I moved to the UK, I miss the opportunity to shop for the full range of Chinese New Year goodies. Some of these goodies can be found in UK Chinese supermarkets though so take a closer look if you get chance!
Celebrating Chinese New Year in Chinatown
This coming Chinese New Year of the Horse falls on 31 January 2014 (Friday). In Singapore, on the eve of Chinese New Year, everyone will go home to have a reunion dinner before heading to the temple (if you are Buddhist) or go to Chinatown or River Ang Bao or some might just stay at home!
Celebrate Chinese New Year with Orange
Mandarin oranges play a major part in our Chinese New Year. It’s to do with way we pronounce the word, it sounds like fortune. Chinese people love to say only good words on Chinese New Year as it will bring them all the luck and fortune for the coming new year.
Different Types of Chinese New Year Goodies
This time of year is the best time to travel down to Asian countries, especially Singapore. Not only are you escaping the bitter cold in the UK, you are going to enjoy the different varieties of foods and festivals there. As a proud Singaporean, I would like to share some of our delicious Chinese New Year goodies. They are only produced once a year to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Chinese are very superstitious so all the goodies are labelled in red. Why Red? It is corresponding with fire, and symbolizes good fortune and joy.
Chinese New Year Wall Decoration
This year Chinese New Year falls on 31 January 2014 and is the Horse year. There is a 12 year cycle and and each year has a different animal to represent them. In a later post, I will blog more about the background.
It traditionally starts on the first day of the lunar month and continues until the fifteenth. The lunar calendar is based off the cycles of the moon, so that’s why the date of the Chinese New Year varies from year to year of the Gregorian calendar.
Today, I would like to show you how I decorated our house with the decorations that my mum sent me. Some of these photos were taken by my sister from a shop in Singapore. It is very important for Chinese families to decorate their house to fill their house with plenty of good wishes e.g. years of brimful happiness, good health, wealth, prosperity etc. It is equivalent to how English people decorate their houses with Christmas decorations and ornaments with wreaths, candles, mistletoe etc. This is our Chinese New Year Wall Decoration!
Winter Solstice Festival 2013 with Tangyuan
Today marks another year of the Winter Solstice Festival. I can’t believe how time passes us so quickly and it is going to be another new year in less than two weeks time. If you don’t know what the Winter Solstice Festival/Dongzhi is and why we are celebrating it, please click here to read what I had wrote in last year’s blog post.
Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival is also know as Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival in Singapore. For every festival, there are lanterns hanging across the street and children showing off their beautiful lanterns. I still remember I used to hold a paper folded red lantern and sometimes it would catch fire if I swing it around. Now the lantern are battery operated so it will be safe for children. Each year, the lanterns are getting more and more fanciful.
Winter Solstice Festival
The Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese during the Dongzhi solar term (winter solstice) on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. This year, it occurs on 21 December 2012.
Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. I still remember every year without fail, my mum would make tangyuan (湯圓) or balls of glutinous rice. She would put red food colouring into the glutinous rice flour and mix with water. Once it was mixed, she would roll it into small flour balls and cook it in the boiling water with pandan leaves.
