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PENANG’S CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS
Star
- 18 Feb 2013
- Metro North
- By JEREMY TAN north@thestar.com.my Photos by MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI and CHAN BOON KAI
Cultural wonderland
PENANG’S Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration was an enlightening explosion of culture that transported thousands to the world of ‘old Shanghai’, where ancient traditions and practices were enshrined.
— CHAN BOON KAI / The Star Rousing act The thunderous 68 drums performance wowing the crowd in Masjid Kapitan Keling Road during the event.
Streets around the George Town heritage enclave abounded with a plethora of exciting activities, performances and showcases throughout the day-long event, affording both locals and tourists a colourful feast for senses.
Despite the intense afternoon heat and intermittent drizzles later in the evening, the undaunted crowd went about snapping tons of photographs and placated their appetites with a myriad of street food.
Those lining the main thoroughfare of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling enjoyed a thrilling chingay performance, the deafening rumble of a 68member drum troupe, and breathtaking stunts of the lion dance on stilts.
iSnap me for more photos > http://thestar.com.my/isnap Grand start: A multi-cultural performance at the main stage during the officiating ceremony.
- 18 Feb 2013
- Metro North
- By JEREMY TAN north@thestar.com.my Photos by MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI and CHAN BOON KAI
Magic of old Shanghai
From page 1 PENANG’S Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration was an enlightening explosion of culture that transported thousands to the world of ‘old Shanghai’, where ancient traditions and practices were enshrined.
Romancing a thousand-year-old snake
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CM Lim Guan Eng shared Buletinmutiara‘s album.
MAJLIS SAMBUTAN KEBUDAYAAN & WARISAN TAHUN BARU CINA
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For more photos, go to
Penang Chinese New Year Cultural & Heritage Celebration 2013 … http://www.seehong.info/news/penang-chinese-new-year-cultural-..
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Welcome to VisitPenang.Gov.My
| Chinese New Year Cultural Heritage Celebration 2013 |  |
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| Written by Administrator II |
| Thursday, 14 February 2013 13:37 |
| Event: Chinese New Year Cultural Heritage Celebration 2013Date: 16th February 2013 (Saturday)Time: 3.00pm – 12 midnight
Venue: Armenian St, Ah Quee St, Acheh St, Canon St, Chulia St, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, Soo Hong Lane and Kampong Kolam Organized by the Penang State government, the Penang Chinese Clan Council and Clan Association Youth Committee Penang; the festival will begin at 3pm till midnight on the 16th of February all around George Town. This year, the Chinese New Year Cultural & Heritage Celebration will be showcasing the rich culture of the various clans in George Town. There will be a myriad of activities including Lion Dance, handicraft demonstrations, calligraphy and Chinese martial arts. Several performances, including the famous Chinese tale ‘Legend of the White Snake’, had been incorporated into the celebration to mark the Year of the Snake. The Yang di-Pertua Negeri T.Y.T Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas and Penang Chief Minister Y.A.B Lim Guan Eng are expected to grace the official opening ceremony of the celebration.
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| Last Updated on Friday, 15 February 2013 03:29 |
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The sound of drums are very important at Chinese New Year.
Scroll down and watch a video of Chinese New Year in Cuba.
Chinese New Year in Malaysia has nothing to do with the Spring Festival simply because there is NO Spring in Malaysia. The four seasons don’t exist. Instead, Malaysia has two ‘seasons’, if you could call them seasons: hot and wet; and hot and dry.
In China, Chinese New Year is the Spring Festival. It is the most important holiday in China. Originally tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar, the holiday was a time to honor household and heavenly deities as well as ancestors. It was also a time for a family re-union, at which a feast was unavoidable.
In Malaysia, the Festival involves a long holiday period. Schools close for 8-9 days.
The sights of Chinese New year are RED FOR EVERYTHING and the sounds are of loud FIRE CRACKERS AND DRUMS.
Lion-dances are held, and most lions are red or red and black. Banners are red. People tend to dress in red, at least for the first day.
A dragon dance is rare but spectacular!
Shen Jai DRAGON DANCE 2007
Children think most about the RED ANG PAO, the red packet, wanted for its contents: the MONEY! In my childhood, we got 20 cents, 60 cents, $1.10, $2 and $5. Later, the Malaysian dollar gave way to the Ringgit. The sum inside a red packet began to grow: now it is common to get Rm5, but Rm10 is not unusual. For your own children, put in Rm50 or Rm100.
The cartoon below is poilitically-motivated but is amusing….
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Associations and schools hold Calligraphy competitions.
Here is a video of a calligrapher at work.
Maggie Leong Mei Kay, Calligrapher Par Excellence
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*****3.2 (Customs) Chinese New Year in Havana
When you click on the link below, it will direct you to Youtube, so click on Youtube at the bottom right of the screen.
CHINESE NEW YEAR IN CUBA
| Chinese New Year (2013: Feb 10) by Aimara Fernández |
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| Cuba’s Chinatown, or Barrio Chino, is centered around Zanja, Amistad and Dragones Streets in the heart of Centro Habana. Around 150,000 Chinese, mostly men, arrived in Cuba from 1847 to 1874 to work in the sugar industry and replace African slave labor. From 1869 until the first half of the 20th century, different waves of free Chinese, mostly from California in the US, immigrated escaping discriminatory laws. The “Californians,” as they were called, laid the economic foundation of Havana’s Chinatown…Chinese New Year will take place on February 10, 2013 and will be well worth making an effort to witness the dancing, music, dragons and many reminders of the importance of the Chinese culture (and immigrants) to Cuba. | ||||
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For a number of Cubans, however, New Year’s celebrations do not end on January 1st. They have to wait until late in January or early in February for their own special festivity. This is the Chinese New Year based on the lunar calendar year.
Chinese New Year (2013: Feb 10)
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Chinese New Year in New Zealand, 1977-82
For the first three years, in Wellington, we hardly remembered that it was Chinese New Year, so we didn’t celebrate it. You can’t remember a Festival that changes dates every year, sometimes falling in January, and sometimes in February, and always on different days. Once, our friends decided to celebrate it, and we did so at the Overseas Christian Fellowship meeting on a Saturday evening closest to that year’s Chinese New Year. No signs of a CNY celebration at all, just good food.
We didn’t have any of the ubiquitous Horse-races Calendars, so we couldn’t figure out when it would be Chinese New Year.
Here is the one that hangs on the wall in our place, with the extra holidays marked with X.
However, when we moved to Auckland, we attended the Ponsonby Baptist Church in Auckland and as there was a Chinese extended family there, Chinese New Year was celebrated with them at their home. They were the Wong Family, warm and wonderful people. The feast was sumptuous and filling. TOO MUCH GOOD FOOD AND TOO SMALL A STOMACH!
The Ponsonby Baptist Church
Alex Wong, patriarch of the Wong family, is to the right. He was the Church Secretary. In the center is Blogger.
Only back in Malaysia is Chinese New Year so important.
Thus, when we worked and lived in Penang, we always drove back to Ipoh before New Year’s Eve to attend the Re-union Dinner at Father’s house, with Mother, brothers, sisters, their spouses and children.
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09 February 2013| last updated at 11:18PM
A taste of CNY in New Zealand
By Lee Yoke HarWriter is an Auckland-based business writerAS Chinese New Year’s feverish pitch reaches its crescendo in Malaysia, inhabitants in Auckland would have had one or two relatively subdued parties with their fellow Asians to mark the event.
Ushering in the Year of the Snake kicked off in Auckland with Prime Minister John Key donning the Chinese brocade-patterned black and red Tang suit. The Chinese community put their indelible stamp on Auckland, with their annual Chinese New Year festival.
“It’s great to be back at the ASB LunarFest (sic) event in Auckland tonight to celebrate Chinese New Year,” Key tweeted on Feb 1. Except, Chinese New Year hadn’t really begun for the rest of the Chinese people around the world.
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Chinese migrants celebrate Chinese New Year differently. I have a friend who takes a day off at work (since it is not a public holiday in Auckland) to spend time at home — her way of celebrating the event.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key donning the Chinese brocade-patterned black and red Tang suit to usher in the Year of the SnakeRead more: A taste of CNY in New Zealand – Columnist – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/a-taste-of-cny-in-new-zealand-1.215448#ixzz2KUn4M5gP
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