Pardon my lack of updates, I really couldn't find the heart to badmouth the holidays during the holidays. Somehow my only motivating factor was to collect angpows (ZOMG!) during the entire procession but of course with utmost maturity I have come to realize the significance of this oriental festival that has about one sixth (or even more) of the world's population celebrating it.
It's definitely (for many many of us Singaporeans) the very happiness of being in the new year. I mean people start sprouting stuff like "Happy New Year!" like they really mean it (believe me it's definitely not 客气话 -in English- Courtesy language) and when somebody says something inauspicious someone will say "Hey! It's the new year! Why are we saying such things?"
(My father started talking about how the designer of the Mandai Crematorium was the first one to use it and my uncle chirped in on how badly designed the crematorium was, lols)
I mean we don't even observe the Lunar Calendar for God's sake! We don't even know (or at least most of us) when's our Chinese Birthday! We don't even know the Lunar Month we're in on a daily basis let alone the day. The only thing we know is it's the year of the Pork (oh yarh, and we start receiving SMS like "I like to eat pork! Happy New Year!") because of the over-hyped publicity 12 animals get on teevee and how women are constantly looking forward to the year of the dragon so they can give birth then.
So why are we so hyped up about this holiday? I mean it's legitimate to be happy on 1st January when we enter into a new year but Chinese New Year?
But I guess the very epitome of this season (for me) is not the spirit, not the food, not the 过年 entering into the new year, but the family spirit. And these pictures speaks everything:
Photos courtesy of Esther Kok!
It's definitely (for many many of us Singaporeans) the very happiness of being in the new year. I mean people start sprouting stuff like "Happy New Year!" like they really mean it (believe me it's definitely not 客气话 -in English- Courtesy language) and when somebody says something inauspicious someone will say "Hey! It's the new year! Why are we saying such things?"
(My father started talking about how the designer of the Mandai Crematorium was the first one to use it and my uncle chirped in on how badly designed the crematorium was, lols)
I mean we don't even observe the Lunar Calendar for God's sake! We don't even know (or at least most of us) when's our Chinese Birthday! We don't even know the Lunar Month we're in on a daily basis let alone the day. The only thing we know is it's the year of the Pork (oh yarh, and we start receiving SMS like "I like to eat pork! Happy New Year!") because of the over-hyped publicity 12 animals get on teevee and how women are constantly looking forward to the year of the dragon so they can give birth then.
So why are we so hyped up about this holiday? I mean it's legitimate to be happy on 1st January when we enter into a new year but Chinese New Year?
But I guess the very epitome of this season (for me) is not the spirit, not the food, not the 过年 entering into the new year, but the family spirit. And these pictures speaks everything:
Photos courtesy of Esther Kok!
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