I’m really missing Chinese New Year!
It may seem strange that a Canadian woman living in India would be missing CNY. However I love the dragon dance and joyous celebration. Heck, for years I used to organise the annual CNY banquet when I was with the Hong Kong Canada Business Association.
And after criss-crossing between Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China where it is celebrated with great gusto, back here in Bombay, feels like a let down.
Only sign of CNY this year was an Uber notice from my Singapore account, ads for Chinese restaurant deals and a few exuberant greetings from friends scattered in other parts of Asia. Hmm….
However, it got me thinking about the plurality of ‘New Year’ celebrations. How each is linked to the cycles of a particular region, community or religion.
Here in India we have a whopping 16 regional ‘New Years’ – from Holi to Maha Vishuva Sankranti to the Punjabi Vaisakhi or the Bengali Boishakh. Then throw in the Parsi Nowruz or Muharram starting a new Islamic calendar, top it off with the western import of Dec 31st… and you can see there are an awful lot of New Years celebrated in this country!
For each, it is a special marking of time… a transition from old to new.
So for those celebrating CNY – Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!!
And those not? If you live in India… another New Year celebration is just around the corner…
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Happy new year! I never experienced this festival in China. The closest I have ever come to it was several years ago in Helsinki as they have there each year a big event in the city centre with foodstalls, fireworks dances and and. Bad thing though back then we had _30 degrees Celsius, not that comfortable to be several hours outside
Happy new year!! And you MUST experience CNY in China!!!! Or at least somewhere in Asia where there are full-out celebrations like Singapore or Hong Kong. When I think back on the celebrations I used to organise in Canada in the late 80s / early 90s vs actually experiencing in Asia… let’s just say there is a reason I’m missing it now! 🙂
I miss it too. So I found a little corner of China in London today, and uploaded a new post, just for you and me!
I just saw!! And it meant a lot to see it. 🙂
Happy Chinese New Year! I hope the year of the monkey brings you lots of good luck, fortune, and happiness. I think once you become familiar with a celebration, you will miss it when you aren’t in the environment to celebrate it.
Yup!! Completely miss being in an environment to celebrate! And wouldn’t all that good, luck, fortune and happiness be welcome?? 🙂
I miss CNY also in Beijing. Always so many firecrackers being lit throughout any hour of the night keeping me awake…but I still miss it.
I know, funny eh? I’m even missing that crazy loud crashing of the cymbals and drums!!