Year of the Tiger 2010

Chinese New Year happens to be on February 14^th this year. It was such a beautiful day with sunshine! Chinese New Year celebration started a few days before the special day. I remember from growing up, mom wanted us to clean everything from top to bottom. Chinese believe that by throwing away the old, comes the new. They also believe that everyone needs a new start with the Chinese New Year. The night or two before that, my grandmother used to make all these dumplings and desserts for the big day! We loved it so much that we couldn’t wait to eat them.

On New Year’s Eve, all the family members gather and have a big feast. It is like eating so much that your belly will pop! Our dinner usually includes Chicken, Fish, Pork, Vegetables, especially Lettuce. All the food or dishes have symbolic meanings. For example, Lettuce symbolizes fortune. Fish symbolizes having money leftovers. This year, we had carryout in Chinatown.

On New Year’s Day, it is a tradition to wear something new and red. When we were kids, we were so looking forward to that day and hope that we would get new clothes. Of course it didn’t always turn out that way. This year, we started our New Year with delicious Dim Sum in Chinatown at Shiu Wah. It is our regular Dim Sum place at the Chinatown Square. We then walked around Chinatown, bought some bake goods to bring home. We waited till around noon to see the beginning of the Chinese New Year Celebration. There were lots of people following the Lions. There was also a big parade with grade schools, high schools, colleges, community coalitions, retired veterans. There were floats from Ronald McDonald’s and Macy’s. Children were so happy to get candies. There were Lion Dance and Dragon Dance. New Year would start with a big bang! They would light the firecracker and believe it would scare the devils away! When the economy was so much better many years ago, the Lion would dance from store to store, they would get a red envelope (lai see) with money inside. It symbolizes good luck and prosperity. The Chinese New Year Celebration in Chinatown lasted about two and a half hours.

It ended around 2:30 PM. Everyone rushed into the restaurants and gift shops afterward. Overall, it was nice and it sure helped the merchants in Chinatown to have such a good day of sales! Here are some of the pictures I took and like to share them with you. Hope you can picture yourself in the celebration. I like to take a moment to wish everyone, a happy and a prosperous year!