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Published: March 20th 2009
I went to Singapore twice for a couple of days each. Most of that time was spent walking around, soaking up the atmosphere and looking for the Chinese New Year celebrations…
I had timed my second visit so that I’d get there for the Chinese New Year. Unfortunately I was so tired after a sleepless last night in Melaka, that when I got to Singapore, I really wasn't up for much. This was the 25th... Everyone had been telling me that it was Chinese New Year on the 26th, so I took it easy, figuring I'd check out the action the next day. What I didn't realise was that I missed the actual count down!
Together with another girl from my hostel, Katie, I went on a search for the lost Chinese New Year… It was kind of a rainy, grey day in Singapore, so I can’t really blame the celebrations for not being up for it either. And it really was kind of hard to find the festive mood anywhere we went in town. Only towards the end of the day did a lot of people congregate in the harbour as there was going to be a cultural
show that night - and as the lights started turning on and people were walking through the light park and the food stalls was there finally a sense of anticipation in the air. Maybe if I were Chinese the show would have been good… As it were, I didn’t understand a single word of the long, long speeches, and the Chinese opera wasn’t really my style either.
Anyway, here are a few photos from my trips to Singapore - just to give you a flavour of what the city is like….
Love,
Kristine
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~sooty~
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the "missing" atmosphere
The first two days of Chinese New Year in Singapore are public holidays so that the local Chinese population can do the traditional family visits and gatherings in our elders' homes. To really get the festive atmosphere, you needed to be in Chinatown the weekend before the actual new years, or be invited to one of the local homes. Even New Year's eve may not be very busy outside as families gather for Reunion dinners (Tuan Yuan Fan)... To give you a better idea of why you didn't find any Singaporeans roaming the streets on the actual day..... Within the span of those two public holidays and the closest weekend (i.e. the Sat and Sun that occurs next), we typically have to visit ALL your elders' homes, even if you can only spend 2 hours at each place. So, if you take into account grandparents from your dad's side, then your mom's side, then your grandaunts and granduncles, uncles, aunts, and depending on how "high" up the "hierarchy" your parents are you may have to have an "open" house in your own home.... that's a lot of visiting and running around to do -- and unlike larger countries around the world, we don't have the option of saying they live too far away!! lol...^_^