2010 is the Chinese Year of the Tiger. Doesn't he look ferocious?
From Wickepedia on the internet. "The Chinese calendar determines Chinese New Year dates. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culture (notably the Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese) and may have a common ancestry with the similar New Years festivals outside East Asia (such as Iran, and historically, the Bulgars lands). In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must occur in the 11th month, which means that Chinese New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4. The dates for Chinese New Year from 1996 to 2019 (in the Gregorian calendar) are below along with the year's presiding animal zodiac."
Rat
February 19, 1996
February 7, 2008
Ox
February 7, 1997
January 26, 2009
Tiger
January 28, 1998
Febuary 14, 2010
Rabbit
February 16, 1999
February 3, 2011
Dragon
February 5, 2000
January 23, 2012
Snake
January 24, 2001
February 10, 2013
Horse
February 12, 2002
January 31, 2014
February 1, 2003
February 19, 2015
Monkey
January 22, 2004
February 8, 2016
Rooster
February 9, 2005
January 28, 2017
Dog
January 29, 2006
February 16, 2018
Pig
February 18, 2007
February 5, 2019
The Chinese really celebrate New Years. Stores close. Families are visited. Special meals are eaten. This year in Hong Kong the official celebration started on Saturday, February 13 which was New Year's Eve, and ended on Tuesday night, February 16 with fireworks over the Victoria Harbor on Monday night, February 15. Many stores were closed for the entire week to let employees have time for festivities. We were back to work at the Area Office on February 17.
We arrived in Hong Kong last year just before the Chinese New Year which was celebrated on January 26. We watched the fireworks at the harbor last year, but because the weather had turned rather chilly, we watched them on TV this year. They are always spectacular. We did, however, participate in other New Year's activities. This blog highlights three of these.
#1. A tradition for New Years is a Fair in Victoria Park with hundreds of booths selling all types of dolls, balloons, stuffed animals and other trinkets. It is also a flower day, and the fair has many flower stands with beautiful flowers, potted plants, and even trees for sale. The Park is about a 15 minute walk from our apartment. Thousands of people go to the Fair. We went early on Saturday, and we still could hardly move. It was difficult to stop and purchse things, but we did get a few things, especially Tiger items.
#2. New Years is a time for the colorful dragon dances. We saw three of them. One was held directly back of our building in a parking lot for the Wan Chai Police Station which is adjacent to our Asia Area Administrative Offices. Each year, the police invites city dignataries to view a dragon dance and enjoy a buffet lunch. Because we are neighbors, the police invited our people to join in the festivities. We attended last year, but didn't take many pictures. This year we took our cameras and have included a few shots of the acrobatic men who wear the dragon outfits.
#3. New Years is also a time for Lantern Festivals. A very elaborate one was erected in Kowloon across the harbor from Hong Kong. One night during the festivities we took the Star Ferry across the harbor to see the exhibit. We took many pictures of the lanterns and then stayed for the nightly light show that takes place with music, building lights and laser lights illuminating the Hong Kong skyline. We had taken a ferry ride to see the show this summer, but standing on the Kowloon shore and looking at the lights flashing in time with the music was even more exciting. The lanterns are made as colorful representations of people, animals and scenes, all lit by internal lights What a colorful celebration. We hope you enjoy the pictures.
This was a New Year's Display in an office building a block from our office. The fish is always part of the celebration as are red ornamentts.
Even the buildings get decorated for Christmas and New Years.#1. NEW YEAR'S FAIR IN VICTORIA PARK, HONG KONG
The day was overcast, so the pictures came out quite faded. But the crowds were thick. A wide walkway was formed with booths on both sides selling all types of tiger items as well as other stuffed toys and trinkets of every description.
Tiger balloons were very colorful.
Notice the wrap around tiger hat on this vendor.
Not all balloons were tigers. Even smiley faces got into the act.
Tiger gloves, bats and balls for the baseball fans.
This Chinese girl isn' t too happy to have me take her picture even if she has a wind toy.
A happy tiger balloon couple.
A white tiger hand puppet. We succumbed and bought one to take home to join other puppets we had purchased at Christmas time.
Neck pillow tigers as well.
Tiger Tails. Not sure what you would do with these!!
Part of what we brought home with us. The bag has New Years tiger favors that we gave out at the Missionary Couples New Years Even Dinner. Dragons are always in vogue. This was a dragon puppet that scoots along the floor as you manipulate the strings.
My New Years Eve Outfit. The flowers are beautiful and the sweater and cap keeps me warm in in 50 degree weather.
Many flower stands selling all kinds of flowers and plants. 
Artificial flowers were also available in all colors.
The ornamental orange bushes are used as New Years decorations. The fruit is small, but I guess is edible. These are in pots, and you see them all over the city in building lobbies, in front of stores etc. during the New Years season. They are live plants.#2 CHINESE DRAGON DANCE AT WAN CHAI POLICE STATION
The posts with round stands are for the two smaller dragons to perform tricks on. There are two gymnasts wearing the costume. The dragon head is complete with large eyes that blink, a gaping mouth, and furry coat. The dragon jumps from one stand to the next while the drummers keep the rhythm going with a steady beat.
The large dragon is made with many yards of material attached to a huge dragon head. Several men are under the dragon armed with long poles that they move up an down as they run simulating the moves of a beast. The head comes up to greet people, and they feed it cakes and goodies. (the men enjoy the feast).
The dignitaries sit on the stand and are greeted by the large dragon as well as the smaller ones. Here you see one of the dragon dancers getting ready to assume a role under the dragon.
The small dragon is very realistic and fun.
The dragon coat just drapes over the dancers who assume a crouched position as they move about.
The four legs of the dancers holding the dragon coat with its head in an upright position. It takes a lot of skill to make the dragon look real.
Here is a leap of the dragon forward. The two men must coordinate or they will be on the ground!!
This shot shows what is going on under the costume. He made the jump successfully.
A close-up of dignataries with small dragons in front and the large dragon behind.
This is a very noisy drum line.The finale of the dragon dance. Enjoy the show.
#3 NEW YEAR'S LANTERN DISPLAY AND VICTORIA HARBOR LASER LIGHT SHOW
Click on the picture to see the beautiful Hong Kong skyline at night.
You can see how the buildings are lit up at night. Again, click on it to see the detail.
This sign explains the various lantern scenes. There were 16 scene depicted. Click to read some of the descriptions.
You can vision the scenes better on this shot.
The little children were fascinated by the lights, or luminaries as they are called.
Sister Smith is in the center of the display. Scenes are on both her right and left.
It is hard to describe how impressive the lanterns were. We were glad we were able to see them before they were taken down. They stayed up for about six weeks.
2 comments:
Your pictures are beautiful.
What fun! Great photos!
Post a Comment