The Chinese Lantern Festival will be celebrated February 28, bringing Chinese Lunar New Year to an end. The 15-day long Spring Festival will draw to a close. No more closed businesses, and most importantly, no more fireworks. I have never lived in a war zone, but the constant deafening explosions of past two weeks have given me a fair indication of what an artillery strike would sound like. I think Expatriate Games would agree….

The Lantern Festival will see the first full moon of the new year – this year being the Chinese Year of the Tiger. Modern practices see families walking outside, children holding colorful paper lanterns, appreciating the moon. Glutinous Rice Balls called yuanxiao are the traditional festival food often eaten in soup called tangyuan.

The Lantern Festival has been celebrated for thousands of years. Why lanterns? What’s the deal? If I’ve learned anything in China it is there are many different explanations for everything.

One legend says the festival was a way to worship the Chinese god of heaven, Taiyi. Beginning with the Qin Dynasty, emperors would hold elaborate celebrations to appease the god and ward off possible droughts, famine, disease, and possibly dragon attacks. The end of Spring Festival is also the birthday of the Taoist god of good fortune, Tianguan. It was believed that Tianguan liked entertainment. Since there were no strippers in the days of yor, lanterns were a way of giving the dude what he craved, and hopefully having him grant good fortune to lantern bearers.

There are other stories. Which one is true? That’s a matter of personal choice. I’m partial to the story of the Lantern Festival starting as a way of deceiving the Jade Emperor in Heaven. Some villagers inadvertently hunted and killed the Jade Emperor’s favorite bird. That’s a big no-no – don’t mess with a god’s avian friends. He was a little angry and decreed the village would be destroyed in a storm of fire.

Mr. Jade’s daughter over heard his plan and told the villagers. A village wiseman decided to hang red lanterns, start big bonfires, and toss around fireworks to make the village look like it was on fire. When the Jade Emperor’s soldiers arrived to launch their shock and awe attack they saw the village was already ablaze. They reported back to the emperor who probably said, “Good,” and went back to doing his other Jade Emperor duties.  The villagers celebrated not being burnt to a crisp with the lanterns and fireworks each year on the anniversary of their deception. In your face, Jade Emperor.

I’ll be in Hong Kong, a mecca for Indian tailors and African drug dealers,  for this year’s Lantern Festival. I’ll see what trouble I can get into and the possible photos that result.

Making Chinese New Year Dumplings for the Year of the Tiger.

Happy Chinese New Year. Happy Year of the Tiger.  Gong Xi Fa Cai! Xin Nian Kuai Le!

In a cacophony of fireworks the Year of the Tiger arrived. New Years Eve, February 13, was noisy in my little corner of China. The explosions started around 7 pm and continued to well past midnight. It’s amazing what you’re able to block out after experiencing it for a few years.

Mrs. Stevo and I dined with friends at their home. The matron of the household, a doctor and native of Henan province, made dumplings, a traditional New Year’s food. We also ate fish – another traditional food. Fish in Chinese – Yu – sounds like the word for ’surpluses,’ also Yu.

New Year’s day Mrs. Stevo prepared a wonderful lunch of chicken, beef, fish, soup and assorted vegetables. It was quite delish and makes me admire how far her cooking skills have progressed. When we first met her culinary preparations started and ended with instant noodles.

I did nothing the first day of Chinese New Year. Ate and slept. The two days before that I had been priming the walls of Chateau DIY. Back to that today. No rest for the wicked.

To all my friends and the random stoppers-by: Happy Chinese New Year. May the Year of the Tiger be a safe and prosperous one for your families.

Something to watch for: Photographer extraordinaire, Michael at Expatriate Games, is shooting his Chinese town, Liuzhou, for 24 hours. One of his first stellar images is published. Take a look.

Stevo's Island at Chinese New Year 2010

My honorary daughter came to visit last weekend, a rare occurrence. I can thank the school break for Chinese New Year. Island, or Ellen as she says her name is now, was my student when she was a fresh-faced Grade 1. Now in Grade 3, we visit each other from time to time.

We live in the same community but that doesn’t mean we’re together every weekend. Chinese school kids have a schedule that rivals that of a CEO. When school is finished for the day there are tutoring sessions in math, Chinese calligraphy, compositions, English, and then piano lessons, dance, kung fu, etc. Evenings and weekends are booked solid.

I saw Island four times this past school term. I think I could make an appointment with the president of china easier than I can with Island and her scholastic commitments.

She came to our apartment for a  couple of hours of origami, television and PB & J. She was decked out in her Chinese New Year finery. Wearing new clothes is another custom of Chinese New Year.  A fun time, I wish I could see her more often.

The Year of the Tiger stamp from Canada Post

Chinese New Year is almost upon us: February 14, 2010 will see the arrival of the Year of the Tiger.

I have been listening to the warm-up fireworks for weeks. Businesses are closing, kids are out of school, and supermarkets are full of expensive wine, spirits, and other holiday related goodies.

For people from the west: Think of every holiday in the year, smush them all together into a few days of hard-core celebrations, and you have Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival as it is called here.

The Year of the Tiger

Based on the Chinese Zodiac my child will be a Tiger Year baby. The gem stone of Tigers is the diamond (ouch for me). Red and green are the colors associated with Tigers. Of course, Tigers don’t get along with Pigs (me) or Sheep (Mrs. Stevo).

The relationships between Chinese Zodiac animals is not something I really understand. I do know that being a Pig gives me a great excuse for not cleaning the kitchen. This excuse holds little water with Mrs. Stevo.

What of the character attributes of people born in the Year of the Tiger?

Tiger people are sensitive, given to deep thinking, capable of great sympathy. They can be extremely short-tempered, however. Other people have great respect for them, but sometimes tiger people come into conflict with older people or those in authority. sometimes Tiger people cannot make up their minds, which can result in a poor, hasty decision or a sound decision arrived at too late. They are suspicious of others, but they are courageous and powerful. Tigers are most compatible with Horses, Dragons, and Dogs

From: Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco

How will we celebrate? Traditionally, you go back to your home-town or village for Chinese Lunar New Year. Because Mrs. Stevo looks like she is carrying a watermelon in her tummy, there will be no train trip and village visit for us. Instead, we will spend Spring Festival Eve at a friend’s home engaged in two traditional activities: Dumpling-making and drinking baijiu (a strong spirit made from rice).

To all I say:  Xin Nian Kuai Le! Gong Hei Fat Choi! Happy Chinese New Year.

Flag waving in Tiananmen Square during the 2006 National Day celebrations. Photo by: People's Daily Online.

China turns 60 years old on October 1.

National Day will see China the nation celebrate the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It’s a week-long holiday, the last of the year, with parades, gala television specials, and flags-a-waving.

Guóqìngjié (guo: country, qing: celebration, jie: day) or National Day turns Chinese cities and towns into a sea of red and yellow flags. Like the Spring Festival holiday (Chinese New Year) many people use the time off to travel home. My town will likely see 10 of the 12 million residents fly, bus, and train their way back to Hunan, Guangxi, Hubei, and Sichuan provinces. Like North America, businesses will offer sales ‘o plenty. Department and electronics store will offer deals like their western counterparts.

China fought a 23 year civil war, much of it while trying to repel Japanese invaders during the second world war. The Kuomintang (KMT) and Communists forces battled across the nation in a conflict that left millions dead. After the Japanese surrender, the People’s Liberation Army was able to turn the tide against the nationalists, and push the remaining KMT forces into south China.

Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 in Beijing. The KMT forces retreated to Taiwan, continuing the Republic of China and claiming the entire nation, in exile. There was no clear-cut resolution; no armistice has ever been signed in the conflict. Tensions have (and still do) flare over the issue. One KMT division, based in Burma (Myanmar) continued with a guerrilla campaign that lasted into the 1960s. (The Division eventually settled in northern Thailand. There is a Thai village, full of Chinese houses. The residents speak Yunanese, a Chinese dialect.)

China’s National Day, Guóqìngjié, celebrates the re-birth of a nation.

Happy 60th Birthday China. Guóqìngjié kuai le.

June 1 is International Children’s Day, a calendar day widely celebrated in China. I don’t remember this holiday from my days as a child (although some would argue that I still indeed am a very big child.)

At my school it meant a day off for the little nippers, a day off without leaving the campus. Teachers gave gifts, and children ate voluminous amounts of junk food. Yes, children in China enjoy cookies and cakes, but spicy dried fish and chicken feet are also contenders for the top junk food spot.

These are my kids, a few of my faves to celebrate Children’s Day. Thanks to Expatriate Games for the inspiration.