Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!

Kung Hei Fat Choi

(Congratulations & be prosperous)

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China.  For Macau, it means decorating streets and plazas, buildings and parks, and everything else in between with lights, lanterns, zodiac signs, orange trees, and lots of red paper decorations.  It also means fireworks, and lots of them!

It was great to be in Macau for Chinese New Year and learn more about the Chinese traditions and celebrations associated with this special holiday.  Here's some of what we learned and experienced: 

RED ENVELOPES

For weeks leading up to Chinese New Year, I saw people standing outside the banks selling brand new bills (usually 10s and 20s), and didn't understand what they were doing.  Then, the week before Chinese New Year, I noticed the lines at the banks were ridiculously LONG.  I discovered everyone was preparing for the red envelope tradition.  Red envelopes, symbolizing luck, are filled with money to be given as gifts during holidays and special occasions.  According to tradition, the money has to be new and crisp and even numbered but avoid using the number 4 because it's unlucky.  During Chinese New Year, red envelopes are passed out from married and elderly people to children and the unmarried.  It's customary to give red envelopes to all the children you see during the week of Chinese New Year, regardless of how well you know them.  The recipient often says “Kung Hei Fat Choi”, wishing the giver good fortune during the coming year.  Although Kyle and I didn’t pass out any red envelopes, our kids still collected quite a few.  We’ve been told that kids can easily receive thousands of patacas during Chinese New Year.

Red envelopes are often tied to orange trees that are used as decorations during Chinese New Year.

GOLDEN DRAGON PARADE

Dragons are a Chinese symbol of power, wisdom, and good luck.  They are also a vital part of the Chinese New Year celebrations.  

In Macau, a 238 meter golden dragon paraded through the streets and major tourist spots.  The parade also included lion dancers, the 12 Chinese Zodiacs, and figures representing happiness, honor, and longevity.  

We watched the parade as it weaved down the stairs in front of the Ruins of St. Paul's and got an up close view as it passed us on it's way to Senado Square.

FIREWORKS
Another popular tradition during Chinese New Year is fireworks.  There are a few firework shows during the week but the most exciting firework experience is the do-it-yourself fireworks.

Macau sections off 2 large areas (one on the Macau peninsula and another on the Taipa side) for people to buy and light fireworks, including redirecting traffic and erecting tall partitions.  There are also first aid stations, firetrucks, and many safety personnel.

Plus, it's best to wear long sleeves, a hat, and ear plugs.  As you can see, these are serious fireworks.

Kyle and the boys went with some friends to experience the DIY fireworks.

And, they had a blast!  

According to the boys, the fireworks were gigantic (as tall as Ian), super noisy (thank goodness for ear plugs), and TOTALLY AWESOME!  I'm afraid they've been scarred for life - fireworks in America will never compare to these Macau fireworks.

SCHOOL CELEBRATIONS

The kids were out of school for more than a week for Chinese New Year.  Before the break, they had a special day to celebrate the holiday.  Students were invited to wear traditional Chinese clothing and parents came to share a potluck lunch.  The Kindergarten classes also had a special performance.  They wore traditional Chinese clothing, sang songs in Chinese and English, had lots of props, and performed elaborate dance routines.  Although I didn't understand most of the words, it was still a fun, entertaining show.  They did a great job!  

Happy New Year!  May the year be filled with good fortune!                 

Macau Tower

"FINALLY!", the boys exclaimed as we headed to the Macau Tower on a beautiful, clear, no-school holiday.  They've been asking for months to see this 338 m (1109 ft) tall tower.  It was a perfect day for this attraction and it quickly became one of our favorites places here in Macau (we only wished we'd come a lot sooner).

First, we rode the lift up to the 61st floor to an outdoor observation deck.  I was a little nervous about an "outdoor" deck but it really only meant that the upper part of the windows and roof were open - perfectly safe!

This deck is home to all the adventure and thrill seekers.  Not only can they take the plunge from the world's highest bungy jump but they can also go on a walk around the outer rim with no handrails just an overhead tether.  Notice the people in orange shirts behind us on the other side of the windows - those are the "skywalkers".  

Aside from the heart-pumping adventures, the Macau Tower also offers some fantastic views.  It was so much fun to walk around the deck and see our stomping grounds for the last 6 months in a whole new perspective.  The pictures below show the Macau peninsula side with mainland China in the background.   

The following picture is looking the other direction toward the island of Taipa, where we live.  The green hill in the foreground is Taipa Pequena (which we hiked and blogged about recently - can you spot the white zig-zag wall structure that resembles the Great Wall of China?).  

And this picture shows two of the bridges that connect the Macau peninsula (on the left) with the Taipa island (on the right).

The Macau Tower also has a revolving restaurant and an indoor observation deck with more amazing views in every direction.  It's especially fun to watch the bungy jumpers fly by from this deck. 

Plus there are a few spots with glass flooring that reminded us how high we really were.

Although Leah said she wanted to do the bungy jump, she was scared of the glass floors.  She would only walk on it if she was holding someone's hand and even then she walked very slowly and cautiously (so funny!).

The Macau Tower also has a theater, cafes, restaurants, conference rooms, and shops, including the kids' favorite, Toys R Us.  Along the boardwalk, there is outdoor seating, concerts, and a landing pad for the bungy jumpers (we even saw one jumper from this ground level and witnessed the thrilling smile on his face).  Plus, there are more beautiful views.  As you can see, we had a great time and the Macau Tower is now on our list of places to take visitors. 

A Vietnamese 1 Month Celebration

One of the best parts about living in Macau is meeting people from all over the world.  We've met people from many parts of Asia, Europe, Australia, a few from Africa, Central America, and the Middle East.  It is so much fun to find out why they came to Macau but even more fascinating is learning about their customs and culture.  I love discovering the differences and similarities of the varies homelands.

Recently, we learned that many Asian countries have elaborate celebrations when a child reaches different milestones in life.  Although annual birthday parties are typical, the first and seventh birthdays are especially important and usually include much bigger celebrations.  And a child's 1-month milestone is a very, big event in many of these countries.  Not only are the parents rejoicing the baby has survived the most vulnerable stage of life but it's also a time to introduce the new baby to family and friends. 

This week, we got to be a part of a 1-month celebration - Vietnamese style.  Our friends, Peter and Anny (both from Vietnam), had their first child, a beautiful baby girl named Ynna (notice it's the mother's name spelled backwards - how cute is that!).

They invited friends over to show off the new bundle of joy and share a traditional Vietnamese dinner.  Peter is a professional chef so the food was very good and the presentation of the kid's special dishes was just like a 5-star restaurant.

There were about 20 people in this small 2 bedroom apartment during the celebrations.  Most of us were together in the front room where they had packed all their stuff against one wall behind a small couch and chair.  Two women sat in the chair, 4 of us were on the couch, while the others sat on little stools or on the floor which was covered with newspaper for easy clean up.

We had a wonderful time adoring baby Ynna, visiting with friends, eating good food, and being entertained by my silly children.  Ian thought the party needed a little more entertainment so he kicked off an impromptu show with a Chinese poem.  Abby shared some of her Chinese talents with a song and Leah took a turn singing I'm a Child of God and Jingle Bells.  Then the kids started dancing Gangnam Style (I can't wait for a new fad song and dance!!). 

I love getting to know people from different parts of the world and learning about their cultures and traditions.  What a blessing to have our circle of friends expanding worldwide.  It really does seem like "a small world after all".