Is after the Chinese New Year! Well I do not really feel the season or rather i did not merge myself in this special season of the Chinese people every year! Chinese New Year seems to be a Han thing and in olden days, there were many customs and traditions that one needed to comply with in order to have a great year ahead! One of these is probably to send the kitchen god back to heaven so that he could give a great report to the heaven emperor on the good deed of the family and ensure enduring good fortune in the new year to come. The most famous Chinese New Year story is probably that of "Nian" or 年. This 年 is a monster that will come down and terrorise the village every new year. It seems like the only way to get rid of 年 is to make lots of noise so comes the tradition of setting off fire crackers to ward off 年 and ensure a prosperous year ahead. Anyway, the main idea is to create the best atmosphere and to have a great start to the new year ahead!
This year I did not go down to the festive market at Chinatown and did manage to take some photos of the decoration along South Bridge Road!
Year of the Cow... mooo mooooooo....
Moo moo year to you!
Ratty bringing in the cow.. ma me moo ma me moo...
The entrance to Chinatown from Chinatown Point!
"The external desertification of the planet corresponds precisely with the spiritual desertification of human life. " - Words of Wisdom from Daisaku Ikeda
I read this in the book "Soul Mountain" - 无极生太极，太极生两仪，两仪生四象，四象生八卦 or rather the english translation of it and I find it really interesting cos it talks about the one but not one of phenomenon and the interconnectedness of things around us! More on this book later.
