Chinese New Year traditions

~*~*~*Chinese New Year traditions*~*~*~

Chinese New Year traditions that we're still keeping


Reunion feasts

It has always been a tradition for us to gather at my grandparents' house on CNY eve for our reunion dinner.

So, for our family of six, we'll normally have a reunion lunch at home before goin over to grandma's for dinner at night.

Well wishes

And on the first day of CNY, we'll wake up really early morning, trying to outdo each other as the first one to wish our parents will receive the BIGGEST angpow.

What we used to do is to wait till the clock strikes 12 and immediate wish our parents, hehe, trying to be cunning. But my dad will just laughed and asked us to try again in the morning.

Photography session
It is our annual ritual to capture a family portrait together every 1st day of CNY.

One for the family

Another one with my babies

L-R: Cocoa, Xiao Bai, CJay, Xiao Ban

i put some sparkly clips on my kids' hair :p

Grandma's house & house visits

Then, we'll leave for grandma's for our visit. After having our vegan lunch at grandma's, we'll go on to visit my dad's siblings.

Yeah, good thing my parents are local, we do not have to travel outstation. :) And being in KL at times like this is like staying in for a holiday, without having to get outta KL at all! How convenient!


Lion Dance & Dragon Dance

After visiting my 3rd aunt in Rawang, we'll usually go to this temple in Sungai Choh. It's called Kam Long San in Cantonese, which means Mount Golden Dragon.

This year, we were there pretty early. Hence, we were fortunate to watch the dragon dance performance. It was really cool as it's been yonks since i last watched a dragon dance. Last i remember watching was with my parents at some stadium in KL for some major lion/dragon dance competition.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A few days back, our company invited the lion dance troupe to bless the office. It was really grand. There were 5 lions altogether. And there were 4 interesting acts.

Act 1: blessing the office

The lions were really playful with the students..

Act 2: Climbing stilts to get the "sang choy" (lettuce)

This was quite cool. One dragon climbed up while the other looked on..

Act 3: another set of dance on stilts..

these lions are sponsored by Jasmine rice..Gee

i like these moves..it's so cute when they're moves are synchronised =D

impressive!

Act 4: Blessing the fruits

it was quite cute seeing them "eat" the fruits

the lions in a praying position..

the playful lion

the dozing lion

they actually didnt eat the fruits. only removed the skins of the mandarin oranges..

Yee Sang

I got to know that eating Yee Sang is only popular in Msia. It wasn't even popular within the HK community. When i was in Sydney, i couldnt find even one Chinese restaurant serving Yee Sang. No one knew wat i was talking about..

Now, eating yee sang in msia is getting more and more commersialised. When i was a kid, it used to be served from the 3rd day of CNY onwards. Now, you can get it even before CNY.

This year, i had my 1st lo yee sang on St Valentine's Day, 4 days before CNY, at Sheraton Hotel. Was there for a grooming and business etiquette training and we had that as part of our lunch package.

Yee Sang with my cheemuis is a must too..

A huge lo sang at work!