Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

For obvious reasons due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated necessary SOPs to be adhered to, Christmas this year will be celebrated differently around the world. Still, I wish You and your family.. .

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Today, September 13, is Mid-Autumn Festival or what is popularly known in Malaysia as the Mooncake Festival or the Lantern Festival though not to be confused with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the 1st Lunar month, i.e. the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

This festival is one of the important festivals celebrated by ethnic Chinese all over the world. It falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar. According to Wikipedia, it is also celebrated by the Korean and Vietnamese people.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Here in Malaysia, Buddhist/Taoist families would make offerings to the Moon Goddess. Families would sit down to a hearty meal reflective of a wholesome family coming together. For more information on this Mid-Autumn Festival, you may want to check out Wikipedia.

So if you are celebrating, wherever you are, I wish you a Happy Mooncake Festival!

Courtesy of Travelchinaguide

Selamat Hari Raya

Today is a public holiday here in Malaysia. It's Hari Raya Puasa, a festivity celebrated by Muslims around the world.

Hari Raya is one of the major festivals celebrated in Malaysia. School is out and offices are closed officially for two days. However, shopping complexes are open for business as usual as well as food outlets.

If you are celebrating Hari Raya, here's wishing you Selamat Hari Raya!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is not officially celebrated here in Malaysia. In fact, I think it's rather discouraged, more so of late, because it runs counter to the popular belief system here, suffice to say that.

However, drinking holes and such are still places where people can go to for some Halloween feel if you are far away from home enough to miss it. Also, Halloween paraphernalia is also available in shops. Toys R Us is a great place to shop for Halloween stuff here in Malaysia. In fact, if you are looking for toys, theirs is THE place to go to.

Happy Halloween!


Image source: Google

Happy Easter 2014

Today is Thaipusam

This year, Thaipusam is celebrated today, January 17. Thaipusam is a Hindu festival that is celebrated on a large scale especially in Penang and in Kuala Lumpur. In Kuala Lumpur, the action is at the Batu Caves.

As in previous years, Batu Caves play host to thousands, mostly devotees although tourists with cameras and camcorders make up a good percentage of the teeming crowd. The weather is great today (as in no rain with mild sunshine) for a visit to this once-a-year event though you would have to put up with the crowd (everywhere you turn), the sights (kavadi-carriers) and smells (of food, flowers and incense) of such a gargantuan event. Frankly, this could be a once-a-lifetime kind of experience.

However, if you are not participating and do not want to be caught in the horrendous traffic jam, stay away from the Gombak/Sentul area or anywhere near Batu Caves.

If you are heading there anyway and need help with its location, this map may be useful.


View Larger Map

Image source: Wikipedia

Friday Frolics - What Holiday Pie Matches Your Personality?

Just as readers here are reading this, people in the US and Canada and some other countries are celebrating Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving!

In line with this holiday, let's do a Thanksgiving personality quiz this week. Most of us do not celebrate Thanksgiving but we could replace the holiday with a major holiday or celebration in our culture, to answer the questions. Give it a shot and see which pie fits your personality.

Happy Thanksgiving again and Happy Friday!

You Are Pecan Pie

You love to open up your home during the holidays. You are all about generosity and hospitality. You are the perfect holiday host, and even if you aren't hosting, you do your part to pitch in and help. You really get into the spirit of the season without thinking about what you get out of it. For you, the holidays are about other people. Whether you're baking homemade pies or picking out amazing gifts, you do what you can to put a smile on loved ones' faces.

What Holiday Pie Matches Your Personality?

Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

Last week's quiz: What Kind of Soul Are You?

About a white lion cub, Louis Vuitton and Flamenco outfits in Seville's April Fair

Just want to share a few pictures that caught my fancy from The Star gallery. You know Spring is here. Enjoy..

Doesn't he look just so adorable?
This picture taken on April 18, 2013 shows a white lion cub in his pen at the Pont-Scroff's zoo in Pont-Scorff, western France. Three lion cubs, two males and a female, were born on February 23 and were shown for the first time to the public on April 17. -AFP - 19 April, 2013
Source: The Star
A new Louis Vuitton store in Poland..

A view of a huge replica of a luggage designed by French design house Louis Vuitton decorates a facade of Vitkac department store in Warsaw, Poland, 17 April 2013. At the end of June, is scheduled to open the first store of Louis Vuitton in Poland. - EPA/Bartlomiej Zborowski - 18 April, 2013
Source

Two youngsters in flamenco outfits, enjoy April's Fair in Seville, southern Spain, 17 April 2013. The 166th edition of Sevilla's April Fair began last night at midnight with the 'Alumbrado' (the official lighting). April's Fair, also known as Seville's Fair, is a week long festival where visitors can enjoy food, drink, parades, traditional costumes, bullfighting and flamenco. - EPA/JOSE MANUEL VIDAL - 18 April, 2013
Source

Chinese New Year - On the First Day

Today is Chinese New Year, meaning the First day of the 15-day Chinese New Year or Spring festival.

"Happy Chinese New Year and Kong Hei Fatt Choy!"
The above is a common greeting the first time we meet friends and family throughout the Chinese New Year, i.e., any time within the fifteen days of the festival.

What do Chinese families normally do on Day 1 celebrating the first day of the new lunar year?

In the old days, firecrackers would be set off before they go out visiting. It is believed that the noise from firecrackers can drive away evil spirits. The red colour in firecrackers also symbolises good luck in traditional Chinese culture.

Today in Malaysia, as in many parts of the world, setting off firecrackers is an offence. However, for official functions, permits can be obtained for setting off firecrackers usually along with a lion dance or a dragon dance.

On the first day of Chinese New Year, we visit elders and senior members of the extended family including parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles and aunties, and others in their homes and wish them a happy new year.

If distance is a constraint, advancement in technology has helped bridged the distance.

During Chinese New Year, we are required to mind our language remembering to be mindful about using positive words and refrain from using unlucky words such as 'die' or 'bad luck'. Swearing and losing temper is a no-no.

On the first day, it is customary to observe a vegetarian first meal. For most of us, this is one day in a year, slaughtering of animals is refrained.

On the first day, sweeping the floor is definitely out. This is akin to sweeping away good luck. Brooms are normally kept out of sight. Doing laundry and other cleaning chores are also avoided.

Breakable items such as crockery are handled with care. This is because a breakage could be an omen of an unhappy incident in the family. Sharp objects such a scissors are also kept away. Clipping of nails and washing of hair are also avoided on the first day of Chinese New Year.

Traditionally, red is the colour for Chinese New Year. The colour to avoid is black. These days, other colours are also favoured to be worn that are believed to bring good fortune in the coming year.


This year Google has an interesting interactive doodle for Chinese New Year that involves a game with snakes and goodies associated with the holiday, this being the Year of the Snake. You can go to Google search to play the game.

Again, Gong Xi Fa Cai!


Related article:
- Chinese New Year Eve - Reunion dinner

Chinese New Year Eve - Reunion dinner

Image source
Chinese New Year celebration begins with the Reunion dinner tonight, the eve of Chinese New Year.

Millions of Chinese all over the world would have made their way home for this important gathering of family members.

Here in Malaysia and Singapore, the dish above is a must at the Reunion dinner or at any dinner throughout the entire 15 days of the Chinese New Year celebration if one were to eat at a restaurant.

This Yee Sang (or YuSheng in Mandarin) dish is a Prosperity Toss dish of raw fish (most commonly salmon nowadays) mixed with shredded vegetables including daikon (white radish), carrots, red pepper (capsicum), turnips, red pickled ginger, sun-dried oranges, daun limau nipis (key lime leaves), Chinese parsley, chilli, jellyfish, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers (or fried dried shrimp), five spice powder and other ingredients, laced with a sauce using plum sauce, rice vinegar, kumquat paste and sesame oil, for a total of 27 ingredients.

As you can see in the image, everyone at the dinner partakes in the exercise of tossing the Prosperity Toss dish. While tossing, diners will voice out their wish for the new year which can be for a job promotion, extra bonus, striking a lottery, good health, and so forth. Chopsticks are normally used.

Many families here go out to restaurants for the Reunion dinner. Reservations at restaurants are oftentimes necessary to secure a table as more and more families eat out nowadays. Buffet dinners are becoming popular.

Happy Chinese New Year 2013!

My best wishes to You and Your Loved Ones for a wonderful lunar new year of the Snake and may all that you wish for come true in the year.

Happy New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Deepavali & Happy Awal Muharram

For office-workers here in Malaysia, this is a wonderful workweek. It's a short workweek of three workdays as opposed to the regular five or six workdays.

Today, Nove 13, Hindus celebrate Diwali or better known here as Deepavali, the Festival of Lights.

On Thurday, Nov 15, Muslims celebrate the first day of the Muslim new year, the year of 1434. The celebration is known here as Awal Muharram.

Both days are public holidays where offices (Government departments and banks included) and schools are closed. Some people take off the in-between days and make it a week-long stretch of holiday.

Let me take this opportunity to wish Hindu readers Happy Deepavali and a card that follows..

..and to Muslim readers, best wishes for a Happy Awal Muharram and the year ahead. (Apologies, couldn't find any ecard available or I didn't know where to look.)

Also, the year-end school holiday has begun (started on Nov 9) and will stretch until Dec 31.

Happy Holidays to All..

Google doodle for Halloween 2012

Google is at it again with yet another of their fun Google doodles.

This year's Halloween doodle depicts the facade of a row of houses where each door opens (at the click of the mouse) to reveal a house-occupant. Click on the doors to find out who or what lurks behind each one of them.

Shucks, I've given it away, haven't I with the bottom image. Still, go see for yourself.

Happy Halloween!

By the way, here is an interesting read about ghouls, goblins and ghosts from The Hot Word!.. What is the precise difference between ghouls, goblins, and ghosts? Which one is truly disgusting?

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

Today is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, a fullmoon day and incidentally, it is one of the major festivals in the Chinese calendar. It is the Mid-Autumn Festival and over here in Malaysian we also refer to it as the Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival not to be mistaken with the Lantern Festival on the 15th/last day of the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival.

Today is pretty hazy too. Hopefully, the moon will be able to shine through tonight so as to pep up the spirit of the festival.

Image source: Wikipedia

Traditionally, family members will get together for dinner and afterwards enjoy an after-dinner spread of Mid-Autumn Festival delicacies of mooncakes, taro (mini yam), fruits mainly pomelo, and a very traditional food item, water caltrop.

A water caltrop is a fruit that resembles the head of a bull, each fruit containing a single very large starchy seed. The shell is hard and needs to be cracked open with an implement. Though it can be eaten raw, over here, we normally cook water caltrops by boiling them in water with salt added for taste.

There is an added attraction in this festival for children as they get to play with colourful pretty paper lanterns that come in various shapes/forms and sizes.

If you are in Kuala Lumpur, you may want to head on over to the Central Market to view the many beautiful lanterns on display. This is an annual affair.

Wikipedia has more about this Mid-Autumn Festival if you are interested.

If you are celebrating this festival, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival or like what the greeting card below says, Happy Moon Festival!

You might also be interested to read about Mid-Autumn Festival 2013 - more information and more images..

Do's and Don'ts - Hungry Ghost Festival Pt 2

Continuing from the previous post, Hungry Ghost Festival 2012..

The 7th lunar month or more commonly known as the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival is normally regarded as not an auspicious time of the year. In the Taoist Chinese community, weddings and engagements do not take place during this month. House-moving is also out of the question. Buying property or a vehicle or even buying a bed is avoided if the custom is to be followed to the letter. Times have changed and customs like these are sometimes ignored.

For the staunchest of believers, primarily the older generation, signing contracts and agreements are also avoided. People also avoid long-distance travelling, if possible. It is believed that bad luck is associated with the month of the Hungry Ghosts, thus anything major done could face failure or will be wrought with problems. Same applies to starting a new business venture or opening shop for a new business.

Although ghosts/spirits are around during the daytime, they are believed to be more active at night. However, there are some don'ts that can be observed to prevent from bumping into them.

These don'ts are more specific to the Hungry Ghost month..

1. No Swimming. Swimming is taboo in the 7th month. Camping trips and jungle trekking are to be avoided as well.

2. No staying out late. Best to be home by 9pm. For small children, keep them off the streets especially street corners before nightfall.

3. Never pass comment or complain about the smell of burning incense or joss-paper (currency for the afterlife).

4. Do not step on or kick the offerings you find by the roadside. If stepped upon accidentally, you just need to apologise aloud to make it alright.

5. Never take any of the offerings meant for the spirits. The food spread is normally left behind after the prayers.

6. The word "ghost" is never uttered so as not to offend them as it sounds crude. They are normally referred to as "buddies" or "brothers" whose local equivalent is "ho heng tai" in Cantonese or "ho hia ti" in Hokkien.

7. Do not occupy any of the front-row seats at the Ko Tai performance. They are meant for the unseen guests.

8. Do not wear red during the Hungry Ghost Festival month as spirits/ghosts are attracted to red, so avoid anything red, including underwear.

9. Stay away from drugs and alcohol. It is easier for spirits to take over those who are intoxicated. Staying alert at all times makes it difficult for a spell to be cast on you. This one is commonsense.

10. Avoid cutting your hair, shaving, going out or hanging clothes outside at night or leave clothes outside. Not quite practical for shaving, I guess.

The following are applicable at all times:

11. If you are outside, no singing and whistling as these actions are said to attract spirits.

12. Don't answer to your name when you are out walking on your own at night. Likewise, don't call anyone by name at night in the open.

13. From young, boys (and girls alike) are often reminded not to pee anywhere they like. If one needs to go badly, one needs to cup one's hands together as in prayer and mutter an apology at the same time requesting spirits (buddies) in the vicinity to move aside.

14. Keep away from walls as it is believed that spirits like sticking to walls. You don't want to go under a tree at night either.

15. Good to leave the forehead exposed as it is believed that the light from the forehead can ward off evil spirits.

There, these are the do's and don'ts (more of them) to observe during the Hungry Ghost Festival and for other times that I know of. If you have more, please share them in the Comments box.

It is believed that women are more prone to seeing spirits than men as women are of Yin category (as in Yin and Yang philosophy) and as spirits are also Yin, both are more attuned with each other.

We are known to be afraid of the unknown thus spirits being unknown tend to make us fearful of them. In reality, spirits are more afraid of humans in the ratio of 30:70. Does this make sense.

Spirits are at their most powerful during the 7th month but if it's any consolation, those released during this month are not the harmful ones. The harmful ones are the restless spirits that roam the earth freely throughout the year which accounts for the hauntings and possessions.

It is also said that during the Hungry Ghost month, spirits of ancestors will try to contact their living descendants to either make a request or warn of an impending danger.

Most of us may never have any encounter with a spirit in our lifetime. Observing the above may be helpful to ensure an incident-free life. Call me superstitious but I choose to continue observing these do's and don'ts. Being a Chinese, they are a way of life.

I wish you all a very good and safe 7th lunar month which ends on September 15. I look forward to sunny skies again once this month is over.

Hungry Ghost Festival 2012

"That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." -- The man who said these famous words that have since been etched in history has died.

American astronaut, Neil Alden Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon passed away on Saturday, August 25, 2012. He was 82.

He was not only an astronaut. He was also an aerospace engineer, U.S. Navy pilot, test pilot, and university professor before becoming an astronaut. He was also one nice and humble dude preferring to stay low-key and out of the limelight. At one point when he found out that his autograph was fetching a tidy sum on eBay, he stopped signing.

Talk about landing on the moon, I remember my uncle teasing my late grandmother as she was setting up the altar table during one Mooncake/Lantern Festival. My uncle remarked that man has landed on the moon which made offering prayers to the Moon meaningless. Ignoring that and quite skeptical about man's landing on the Moon, my beloved grandma continued with the same prayer ritual right to the end. Such is the power of customs and traditions.

Customs and traditions bring us to a Chinese festival of the month. We are currently in the midst of the 7th lunar month. For the Taoist/Buddhist Chinese community, this is the time to make offerings to hungry and stray ghosts, thus named Hungry Ghost Festival. It is believed that during the 7th lunar month, the gates of Hades open to allow spirits to move about freely in the human realm.

For families who observe this Hungry Ghost Festival, two days are designated for prayers. The two days are the 14th and 15th days of the 7th month which is tomorrow and day after. The session begins at dusk. Different dialect groups pray on specific days every year - either the 14th or the 15th.

Offerings of joss-sticks and candles, money, gold and silver, and clothes (these are in paper form which will be set alight at the end so that the offerings can be received), real food and drinks will be laid out outside the house by the roadside. It is believed that once a family starts this custom, the practice has to be continued yearly because the spirits would come back every year to receive the gifts.

The Hungry Ghost Festival or commonly-referred to as Phor Thor (pronounced Por Tor), is celebrated on a grand scale here in Malaysia - so much so that the state of Penang up north is in the process of applying for this Hungry Ghost Festival to be gazetted as an intangible cultural heritage.

During this month, which started on Aug 17 lasting until Sep 15, one will see makeshift altars erected along roadsides for a grand feast for the spirits. The offerings are to thank the spirits for a bountiful year the previous year and to request blessings for another good year.

Stage or opera shows (called Ko Tai) are also part and parcel of the Phor Thor festival. Front row seats are usually left unoccupied, meant for the spirits. With Chinese opera being a dying artform here in Malaysia, most of the Ko Tai performances come in the form of just singing or puppet shows. Performers used to dress in sexy scanty outfits but the dress-code has been regulated in the last few years to make it children-friendly as these stage shows are open to the public.

If you are in Penang, you can experience a Penang Hungry Ghost Festival from a series of traditional Chinese performances and setups throughout the month for this celebration. Hokkien and Teochew Operas, as well as puppet shows will be shown at various places, such as Penang Road, New Lane, Mount Erskine Road, Fettes Park, Batu Lanchang Market, Thean Teik Road in Air Itam, Padang Brown on Datuk Keramat Road, Anson Road Market and more.

Superstitious or not, the Chinese do observe a lot of superstitions and this Hungry Ghost Festival certainly has its fair share of do's and don'ts. As this post is already too lengthy, let's save the Hungry Ghost Festival Do's and Don'ts for the next post, shall we? So stay tuned..

Part 2..Do's and Don'ts

Image sources:
- The Star
- Visit Penang website

Owning a Communication headset - Scala Rider G9

A convoy of motorbikes vrooming down the highway is a sight to behold - flashy outfits, flashy bikes, flashy helmets and visors. Such convoys can normally be seen during festive seasons particularly during Hari Raya and Chinese New Year.

Gone are the days when two riders on a motorbike were just that - plain riders, and not able to communicate without the sound of traffic or the wind distorting voice subsequently meaning.

If I were a rider, even riding pillion at that, I would consider owning one of those headsets that enables rider-to-passenger communication. I hear the Scala Rider G9 is a good buy.

I read that this G9 is the evolution of the G4 from Scala Rider and it can pair with up to 8 other Scala Rider headsets and toggle between them. In order to activate the capability, you program the names of your riding partners into the headset and when you want to talk to them you speak their name and you will connect to them instantly for a full duplex intercom conversation. How cool is that!

Selamat Hari Raya - Kuala Lumpur is deserted for a good reason

It's Saturday past midday, and the sun is up! Thank goodness for that because we haven't had much sun here in Malaysia the past week or so with the haze refusing to let up. "It's like that", most of us would say this time of the year - dry weather and land-clearing for the planting season taking the rap.

The city is deserted this weekend and will be for the entire week because most people are out-of-town, celebrating Aidil Fitri. The exodus began a few days ago. All tickets for public transportation were all sold out way ahead of the festival, as always.

Roads that are usually congested in and around KL are visibly less jammed up as evidenced by this combo of realtime CCTV traffic shots around the city.

Aidil Fitri or commonly-known here as Hari Raya Puasa is celebrated widely here in view of more than 60% of the 28 million population being muslims. There's a 2-day public holiday gazetted for this festival. Here in Malaysia, two days is the max allotted for any public holiday. Chinese New Year is the other festival that also comes with a 2-day public holiday.

Let me take this opportunity to wish friends and readers who celebrate this festival a Selamat Hari Raya and for the rest, happy holidays. Hotels and resorts in the country are also fully-booked as families take advantage of this long stretch of holidays to spend some quality family time. School is also out for a week.

Dumpling Day or Duanwu Festival

On Saturday (yesterday), the Chinese community celebrated Duanwu Festival or commonly known here as Dumpling Day.

The festival occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calendar thus this festival is also referred to as Double Fifth festival. On the Gregorian calendar, the date varies from year to year. Last year, the festival was celebrated on June 6 while this year, on June 23.

The Duanwu Festival originated in China and has recently been gazetted a public holiday in China though not here in Malaysia. Rice dumplings are the main food of this festival. Racing dragon boats which derived from the legend/origin of zòngzi (dumplings in Mandarin) is also associated with this festival. You can read the origin of the Duanwu Festival here.

In Malaysia, this festival is still in practice and is one of the major Chinese festivals still observed as a custom in traditional Chinese homes. In Buddhist/Taoist homes, celebrating a major festival like this Duanwu Festival involves making special offerings to deities and ancestors of a variety of food, lighting special jossticks and candles as well as burning of joss-paper, the latter to ancestors. The family gathers for a grander-than-usual meal, mainly dinner.


Image source: Wikipedia


Related posts:
Happy Duanwu Festival or Dumpling Day! - June 12, 2013
Dumpling Day - A Chinese festival - June 6, 2011

Brazil celebrates Carnival - Feb 17 to 21

While Argentina is going through the worst train disaster in 40 years, Brazil just concluded their famous annual carnival. It was Samba and glam time as Brazil celebrated Carnival where Samba school dancers took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

Fancy Feathers
A reveler from the Vila Isabel samba school dances on the first night of the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome on Feb. 20, 2012. Carnival, the biggest and most popular celebration in Brazil, happens in the days leading up to Easter, running all over the country from February 17 to 21.

Sequined Sambadrome
The Imperatriz samba school parades on the first night of the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome, Feb. 19, 2012.

Samba Steps
Dancers from the Mocidade samba school perform during the first night of Carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro on Feb. 20, 2012.


More images on Time.com