Wednesday, February 1, 2012

拜天公

On the eighth day of every new year (following the chinese calendar), Chinese from the Hokkien group gather to pray to the Emperor of heaven (天公), also known as the Jade emperor of heaven.  Food and fruits will be used as offerings.  Candles will be burnt, fire cracker will be lit.

My wife is Hokkien.  It's a big day for them. It's also quite an ordeal as there are many things that need to be done prior to the prayer.  They fold golden paper into certain shapes, resembling gold nuggets. These will be burnt later on. It is believed that once burnt, these will become gold in heaven, to be used by the Jade emperor.




The plate of red stuff is a plate of hard boil eggs boiled in red pigment. Red stained eggs are common food in chinese tradition, used as prayer offering and also eaten during birthdays.




After the prayer, we lit firecrackers.
 There was a "secret message" at the end of every bar of firecracker, to be retrieved at the end of the fire action.  Ours says "wealth".


Finally, the burning of the paper gold nuggets.

Chinese New Year 2012



I am happy. People tend to be in better mood when they are on holiday. I got my 3 weeks holiday approved, only after i kicked up a bit of a fuss. Lets not get into that since i am in good mood.  It is Chinese new year. It is a big day for celebration for Chinese all around the world.  Most of us will travel a thousand mile to be home with family.

My trip home from Auckland wasn't perfect. My flight with Malaysia Airline got delayed almost an hour due to air conditioning system malfunction on the air craft. After touching down at KLIA, i had to wait 45 minutes before i could collect my luggage, again due to baggage delivery malfunction! I haven't lived in Malaysia for the past 10 years and i have forgotten how appalling Malaysian efficiency is.  Their so called "Malaysia Boleh" (meaning Malaysia can do) attitude is all talk and nothing more.  It seems like anything that falls into the hands of Malaysian government will be ruined in time, sooner or later. I don't think it is their lack of knowledge to run a business that is the problem.  I think it is the overly relax attitude to life and the over-inflated self content that is becoming the tripping stone. Anyway, i have digressed.  This blog post is not intended for venting my dismay.

Chinese new year celebration starts on New year's Eve, where the whole family (immediate or extended) have a massive feast together at dinner time.  Many people stay up for midnight count down and your ears will be deafened by the sound of fire crackers thundering through the night sky.  Fire crackers are banned by Malaysian government. But few people follow the law here when it comes to trivial things like that. Once in a while you get a visit from police officer threatening to charge you with illegal use of a banned flammable item.  You will quickly learn that there are people who will find ways to evade the charge through various means, bribery being the commonest.

Mum's cooking. The soup in the photo is a classic for any big occasion


Chinese new year is all about family gathering and lots of food. The lots of food is the part i like most. I am blessed with a skinny gene. I can eat a lot and still not worry about excessive weight gain. My female friends get pissed off when i tell them that.  We went from door to door visiting relative. It can be quite a tiring task, especially when you have a lot of relatives. On the second day, i drove to my wife's hometown, 90 minutes drive from mine. There was a big crowd there. Lots of happy kids = lots of happy photographs!

Like Xmas, Chinese new year is also a time for exchanging gifts, in a form of hamper












It has been a long day.....


Of course, a true photographer points a camera at just about anything, not just people....







I had a blast this new year. Happy Dragon year to all of you. Til my next blog....take care and have a good one.