It's cultural that Chinese New Year eve is spent with the guy's side of the family. So following tradition we visited my husband's folks back at his village.
My hubby comes from a fishing village, and Chinese New Year there is always celebrated in the grandest way possible. On New Year's eve, the family comes together for a reunion dinner with a scrumptious spread of dishes. Then just before midnight, every house lights up a long firecracker, together with fireworks. This year the fireworks display was amazing! It's almost like the houses were competing to see who had the best display of fireworks. The fireworks started as early as 7pm, but the peak was between 11:45pm till 12:30am. Below is just a short clip of what we experienced.
When my kids were younger fireworks and crackers were awfully scary to them. I can understand the suffering of those with younger kids. Even now, though we enjoy it, after a while it can get too deafening, especially the bomb like crackers which the teens play with. I really hate those! Makes me feel like I'm in a war zone.
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| On the first day of New Year, we had a string of visitors coming to eat this special Heng Hua mee sua (very thin, soft noodles), as mee sua symbolizes longevity. |
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| The Heng Hua version is different from the Hokkien version which I'm used to. But this is delicious too! The fried seaweed and garlic oil provides a really distinct and delicious flavour. I've learnt the recipe now and might try this sometime soon. Basically there's mee sua, topped with sliced omelet, shrimp, vege, shredded chicken, fried seaweed and a scoop of soup. |
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| And also following tradition, Lion Dance troupes were seen in some houses to "scare away evil" n to bring in good fortune. These are the musicians that accompany the lion dance. |
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| My girls used to be terrified of the dance, mainly because the music is incredibly loud and the lions move with a forceful movement. I have memories of Nel running into the room, slamming the door shut, hands over her ears. Now they've gotten used to it and even peak into the lion's mouth when the lions bend low to "peel and eat" oranges and pomelos that are presented to them along with the angpow. |
And of course, the best part of CNY for all young ones is in receiving ang pows (red packets containing money.)
1 comment :
So colorful! I was really surprised to find out that Isabella loves fireworks. I thought the noise would be too much for her but she is constantly surprising me.
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