Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! This week is the celebration of the Lunar New Year. And in Asian cultures, that's a big deal. We were in Chinatown San Francisco on Saturday, the day before the start of the New Year. The streets were packed with shoppers and many vendors had red banners out in preparation for the week. On Sunday, the first day of the Lunar New Year, Mark and I were heading to our Farmers' Market when we heard drumming. Because we were on our bikes, we decided to follow the sound. We caught the end of a celebration outside a local Chinese business. The dragons were blessing the building and owners to ensure luck in the New Year.

 

With drumming and gongs and bells, the dragons bobbed up and down in front the the entrance. Once finished, the dancers packed up the dragon heads and instruments ready to head to another business. Mark says they will do this all day bringing luck to many stores. It seems that the dancers were young people who enthusiastically shouted Happy New Year to us as we watched. We continued on to the Farmers' Market where we ran into Ron-across-the-street. He said that our neighbor had company over early that morning and had even opened her living room blinds (apparently something she NEVER does)! He also suggested that we should get a pumelo (grapefruit-type thing) and put the peels in a bath and soak in it to bring good luck for the New Year. Mark wasn't keen on this idea. We have heard fireworks almost every night since Sunday. It seems that the festivities can last for up to 2 weeks. Hearing fireworks in the middle of the night made Mark dream that he was shot. Oh dear. Not very auspicious for the New Year. After the Farmers' Market, we decided to stop at the Asian Market on the corner to check out their char siu bao - a bread-type bun filled with a BBQ-style meat. The woman at the oldest department store in San Jose that is still operating (it is a Japanese store in Japantown) recommended them. We got pot stickers and a shrimp thing that turned out to be pretty bad - even to Mark. But the rest was quite tasty. So enjoy the year of the tiger and Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái!   

For more information about Chinese New Year, click here.