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ChineseNewYear, CULTURE: China, Dragon, Dragon dance, Dragon Year, Fireworks, Hong Kong, Lion dance, New Year of the Dragon, New York Chinatown, Red Auspicious Packets
I love celebrating Chinese New Year! My husband’s family is from Hong Kong, so Chinese New Year has a special meaning for us. My husband’s parents always have auspicious red Chinese envelopes stuffed with money, waiting for us when we visit.
The family dinner includes fish, shrimp and lots of auspicious vegetables – the symbols of prosperity. The house has to be brimming with red lanterns and envelopes, as well as oranges and mandarins, also symbols of prosperity and abundance.
Whenever we get a chance, we go to New York Chinatown to watch the Dragon and Lion Dances. All Chinatown restaurants are packed, reservations being made well in advance, each restaurant trying to outdo themselves and each other with the most creative and prosperous dishes imaginable. In addition to sharing the New Year’s festivities with family, it is also a fabulous idea to share your New Year’s meal with close and dear friends.
Above: Dragon Dance
During the Chinese New Year Celebration, various ceremonies are conducted to ensure the fortunate year ahead. This includes New Year’s parades, as well as Dragon and Lion dances. My personal favorite is the Prosperity Cart Ceremony, which I learned from my Hong Kong Feng Shui teachers.
Above: Lion Dance
Traditionally, the New Year’s celebrations last 15 days. Therefore, this year, the celebrations will continue from 1/23 through 2/6.
The year 2012 is very special, as it is the year of the Dragon, considered to usher in a very powerful energy of prosperity and renewal.
During the New Year, Chinese people will greet each other with pleasant words like:
Xin nian kuai le – Happy New Year in Mandarin. Simplified Chinese: 新年快乐; trad. Chinese: 新年快樂.
Hao yun – Good Fortune. Simplified Chinese: 好运, trad. Chinese: 好運,
Kung Hei Fat Choi – Happy New Year in Cantonese (Literally: Congratulations and best wishes for a prosperous New Year!)
Cantonese language: shares the written word with Mandarin, but sounds different in its spoken version. It is the #2 dialect of China, spoken in Hong Kong and south of China.
Finally, Gong Xi (or ‘Gong Hei’ in Cantonese) means ‘Congratulations’, derived from the legend of ‘Nian’, congratulating each other to have escaped the harm of the beast.
Also, read my special posts:
‘Ultimate Energy and Power: Chinese Dragon’
‘Feng Shui Master’s Advice: Secret of True Prosperity’
Watch live! January 23 2012 Year of the Dragon Fireworks – Shangahai, China. Courtesy, Michael Edwards, who resides in Bangkok, Thailand and is currently visiting Shanghai for Chinese New Year.
I am very pleased to announce that Michael Edwards will be doing the eyewitness guest blog on 2012 New Year’s Celebrations in China right here, on Lada Ray Blog! His post will appear in the beginning of February! Don’t miss this very special event!
From our family to yours: Have a wonderful and prosperous 2012 – Year of the Water Dragon! Xin nian kuai le! Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Lada Ray
Author and Feng Shui Master
January 24, 2012
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What a wonderful narrative on Chinese New Year! Way to go, Lada. If think you succinctly described the best that the holiday has to offer. There are cultural variations throughout the world wherever Chinese New Year is celebration, but the elements of family, festivity, and fireworks are the same. Xin nian kuai le!
Thanks so much for a lovely comment, Mike! This is so true! We need more holidays like this one in the world!
Shortly before New Year this year, Jan. 17, to be exact, there was a peculiar and heavy fog that rolled in in the morning in our little riverside town here in Oklahoma. As I drove to work I was paying careful attention so as not to run into cars in front of me. As I crossed our big bridge and glanced into the river I saw what appeared to be a tightly rolled fog dragon that floated in the center of the river and was over a mile long and about 5 feet in diameter. There was no other fog around this dragon except on the the banks of the river . In the distance I saw what seemed to be its head rising up. I could not believe what I was seeing. The fog dragon floated maybe an inch above the water. I have been in our fog and crossed this river many times and never have seen anything like it. It was AWESOME and I take it as an extremely good omen~the power I felt from this experience is indescribable…Dragons are not dead.
Awesome story, Elizabeth! Thanks for contributing. Happy New Year of the Dragon!
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Colourful festival.. Respect to this Article Madam. Loved dishes it looked yummy and beautiful dances. I have seen these dance in Movies only.. But never witnessed it in real. Thank you lada for your Varities of collections.. All the best..
Thanks so much, Pranjal! Enjoy!
Reblogged this on pranjalborthakur.
The photos and video was amazing. I would love to be able to celebrate a New Year eve in a ancient city. Thank you.
Thank you, John! 🙂
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good articles