Chinese New Year celebration lasts for 15 days. The first two days of the new year are reserved for family gatherings and visits, afterwhich the celebration is extended to friends and the wider community.
This year Tiger and I are lucky to be invited to a Chinese New Year party. Although we are celebrating Chinese New Year at home, there's nothing like experiencing the real atmosphere of the festival by being with a big group of Chinese people.
It being a Chinese New Year party hosted by the Chinese community, there were many traditional forms of celebration that I was very glad to have Tiger experience first-hand.
The party started with firecrackers, which requires special permit to be lit. Firecrackers are banned in public in many parts of Asia due to its high rates of accidents, so we were very excited to be able to see and hear the firecrackers go off at only a few feet away from us:
The lion dance is a must at Chinese New Year, as the performance symbolises the bringing of good luck as well as wading off of evil, which makes a perfect way to start a new year. We were very lucky on that day to be able to see watch the lion dance up close, and to witness the very auspicious ceremony of "cai qing" (采青) or "picking the greens". This ceremony is a common sight at businesses during Chinese New Year, where the lions dance to bring prosperity and good fortune.
At the party, we watched many traditional Chinese performances, such as traditional instrumental music as well as traditional dances.
There was also an abundance of traditional Chinese festive food for everyone. Tiger was thrilled to be able to taste so much traditional food at the party, as I am not able to make all of them at home.
This post is linked up to:
- Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #12
- Hip Homeschool Hop (2/4/14)
- History and Geography Meme: China activities for elementary
- Entertaining and Educational - Chinese Paper Cutting
- Collage Friday: Interest-led Learning Within a Classical Framework
- Weekly Wrap-up: The One Where We Kept a Baby and Still Got Stuff Done
- The Homeschool Mother's Journal {February 8, 2014}
- Chinese Activities Link Up
Wow, what a wonderful experience!
ReplyDeleteYes, we were lucky to have gone to the party! :-)
DeleteSounds like sooo much fun - to experience all the festivities first hand must have been great! Its on my "before P moves out" bucket list to celebrate CNY in a Chinatown - would love to see a lion dance and a dragon dance!
ReplyDeleteOh, you must try to get to Chinatown during Chinese New Year! Better yet, try to find out where the Chinese New Year party is over there, and get yourselves to the party! Most Chinese people are very friendly and welcoming to all who are genuinely interested to learn about the Chinese culture. :-)
DeleteAll of your Chinese New Year projects look like so much fun.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Thank you, Dawn. We try our best to have a good time! :-)
DeleteDo you guys do Tapestry of Grace? It's amazing that we are working through the same era. I do know that we are a bit behind this year, though :-( Thank you for the resources in studying China!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Kay. No, we don't use the Tapestry of Grace but I've heard that many homeschoolers have good experience using it. We don't actually use any specific curriculum, so we study topics that capture our interest and curiosity. :-) It's a happy coincidence that we are studying the same topic at the moment.
DeleteYou have had so much fun with all of this, Hwee! Each year I say we will learn about the Chinese new year and each year it comes and goes without anything happening. I must get myself a diary a remind myself a few weeks before hand, otherwise my children are going to grow up not knowing the Chinese have a different new year to us!
ReplyDeleteIt's our first year celebrating the Chinese New Year at such a scale too. As the date shifts from year to year on the Gregorian calendar, it's easy to forget unless it's part of one's culture or if you've marked it in the calendar. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with it next year! :-)
DeleteI was so disappointed, I had to cancel our field trip to the celebrations in downtown Austin because of behavior issues, but the kids did have fun reading some great books we found.
ReplyDeleteIt's indeed disappointing when a field trip has to be cancel due to the children acting up. I've had to do that a few times in the past as well! Luckily Chinese New Year will be here again next year so you can enjoy the celebrations next year. :-)
DeleteThe firecrackers look and sound exciting! What a wonderful experience for you both. Tiger is very lucky that he gets so much exposure to the Chinese culture. We took C and J to a Chinese restaurant last night - I thought of you!
ReplyDeleteSeeing the hearing the firecrackers so close was indeed quite exhilarting, since it's a rare occurrence and has such a significant association with the new year. It's curious that I haven't made more effort to celebrate the Chinese New Year previously, so I guess I'm diving into it this year to make up for lost times! :-)
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