New year's celebration has always been for us more festive than Christmas. Probably because of my Chinese roots that give more importance to the start of the year.
Like the previous years, we showered early and put on our available red shirts/clothes/dresses. We lined five and ten peso coins and connected each door with coins. In each room, we scattered more coins and bills. Unlike many people who would wear polka dots or stripes during new year's eve, we would wear red as a sign of luck and festivity. Unlike many who wear only symbols of mony (polka dots for coins and stripes for bills) we actually scatter money on the floor. On the stroke of tweleve, all the kids in my family would be jumping and rattling their coin boxes to invite fortune. Of course there would always be fireworks, not those that only make loud noises but most especially those that produce great light displays. It is believed that the loud noises and bright lights would drive away bad luck and evil spirits.
However, unlike previous years this year's celebration was more quiet. Before, the fireworks display and loud noises would last until one in the morning. This year, the highlight of the display lasted only ten to fifteen minutes. To top that off, nobody got a major accident from the firecrackers. Too bad, I don't have any pictures to share.
Anyway, the year of the Rat is said to be a good year to start things because it is the first sign in the cycle. A good year to all of us and may all of those good things that we start be a lasting one!
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
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