Happy Lunar New Year!
The Year of the Goat (Or Sheep, depending on who you ask) started on 19th Feb, though the holiday atmosphere had started way before that (no thanks to all the festive music), and a few days in, the celebratory mood continues.
In the week prior to the holiday, I headed down to Chinatown to check out the annual New Year markets, where every sort of food and decor related to the holiday was on sale. The place was crowded with people who were either there to shop for all kinds of New Year goods or to soaking up the very festive atmosphere (Or both). Preparation for this holiday is serious business.
My family's preparations for the holiday ran along similar lines, and we spent quite some time purchasing New Year snacks, flowers and mountains of groceries for the holiday (Though not at the markets).
The celebration of this holiday is very social, involving lots of friends and relatives. There was the traditional yu sheng, which is supposed to bring luck, good fortune, and good health, the exchange of oranges, and the giving (or receiving) of red packets, just to name a few. There was also lots and lots of good food.
All in all, it has been a pretty good Lunar New Year so far. While the public holiday days of this cultural holiday might be over, the celebrating will continue on until 5th March (The traditional end of the holiday). One hopes that the whole year will be a good one, filled with good health and good fortune.
Once again, happy Lunar New Year!
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Till the next time,
Raylen