Gong Xi Fa Cai! 2013 is the 4,711th year of the Chinese calendar! Isn't that exciting! This year, the lunar calendar started on February 10, which is the beginning of
the Year of the Snake. Dong Yilin, a traditional fortune teller from Beijing, believes 2013 will be
neither lucky nor bad. Should we take that as "good" news, I wonder.
Preparing for the new year this time has really been quite tiring. Rushing through the traffic, rushing to buy the things for prayer - but we did it. On New Year's eve, our altar was ready with our offerings. Decorating the items is not so tedious, now that there are adhesive labels and trimmings. Of course prior to this, there was the rush to do "spring cleaning" - sometimes I wonder why this can't be done any time during the year rather than wait for the new year to come - perhaps we like the extra stress?
It was my intention to take pictures of the colourful stalls at our market but somehow time did not allow me to do so. So the next big event will be "Pai Ti Kong" - the Jade Emperor's birthday celebrations. Another big rush to the market (sigh) ...
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| Our New Year offerings to Kuan Yin |
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Offerings to the Jade Emperor
Clockwise: Pineapple, Mandarin oranges, "huat kueh", "ung koo", "bee koe", "ti kueh" and bottle gourd, apples |
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| Gold stamped joss paper offerings to the Jade Emperor |
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