Chinese New Year Coming Soon!

I went to the mall for a facial today. I am not going to talk about that as it was not a good experience today, so instead, I am going to share a bit about the Chinese New Year which is on the 26th and 27th of January.

Steve and I went to the mall last weekend and later to the store. Everyone is preparing for the Chinese New Year. There are so many ethnic groups on the island; I am beginning to see there is a celebration around every corner. Anyway, the malls have sales everywhere, decorations and many, many sweets to share – for a price of course.

“The Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as "new-year visits" (Chinese: 拜年; pinyin: bàinián). New clothings are usually worn to signify a new year. The colour red is liberally used in all decorations. Red packets are given to juniors and children by the married and elders. See Symbolism below for more explanation.

All these festivities may vary from region to region and from family to family.” ~Wikipedia 2009

You can read more about the Chinese New Year here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

Be sure and check out the favorite foods and superstitions during the Chinese New Year in the above link.

Anyway, while browsing, here are a few pictures of what we have seen:

Our new little mall beginning to decorate:

Many, many seeds being sold to be eaten - every kind of seed imaginable:

They have many flavors of each seed as well.


WAY too many sweets for one country. Each of these little stalls is something SWEET!

Did you notice the plum blossoms on the trees on the far side of the picture?


Pussy Willow branches are decorated with Chenille Bumps, litte packages and ribbon:

I am sure there are significances of the flowers as the same ones pop up somewhere. I will do more research on that. I don't see any of them mentioned in the Wikipedia article.


The children's mall art center "Growing Paints" even got in on the decorations:

If you look closely, the heart is buildings and trees! Isn't it precious?

I think it is wonderful that most of the malls here have some form of learning experience for the children; this one is painting, another has ceramics, another has making pottery, another has gymnastics... I think it is a great alternative to the constant video games. Children are always busy here 'creating' and challenging their imaginations.

The malls and shopping areas are very energized when you browse in them – even more so than usual. They are highly decorated and have many, many different things to buy to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The Singaporean government sets off fireworks at midnight to celebrate the Chinese New Year as well.

It is so interesting living in a country with so many different cultures – we are learning so much about the rest of the world. This month we are learning about the Chinese – a very interesting, and complex culture; one full of traditions, color and fun.