Celebrating Chinese New Year, the year of the Monkey

In the coming months, I’ll be digging into my archive of images and sharing images that haven’t see the light of day. I’m kicking off the Into The Archives series with some of my favourite photos from my family trip to Malaysia for Chinese New Year earlier this year.

Chinese New Year is one of the most important festivals that is celebrated annually by almost everyone of Chinese decent around the world. The first day of the Chinese lunar year marks the first day of the festival. This typically falls in January or February, which is the spring season in China. As such it is also known as the Spring Festival.

The festival is centuries old and steeped in tradition. Each family celebrates it in different ways, depending on what part of the world you live in. It typically involves:

• Praying at temples to honour deities and your ancestors
• Family gatherings of close and extended relatives (Reunion dinners)
• Celebrating the festivities over food and drinks over several days
• Visiting friends and neighbours
• Cleansing the house to sweep away ill-fortunes and bring in good luck for the new year
• Viewing or playing with fireworks
• Giving and receiving “red packets” containing cash to wish each other prosperity

This year was the year of the monkey. I spent almost a week with family in Penang, Malaysia, doing a mixture of all the above. Visiting my relatives in Malaysia always brings up childhood memories of when my grandparents used to be around. Having fun with the cousins, playing with fireworks at the front yard of my grandmother’s house out in the sticks and dressing in brand new clothes for the first day of the new year. Now that we’re all much older, Chinese New Year gatherings are more about catching up with  relatives whom you seldom see as everyone works and lives in various parts of the world.

These holidays remind me of my cultural heritage. It also reminds me of how amazing the world we live in is, with a melting pot of cultures, traditions and values. I hope you enjoy these personal images of how I celebrate Chinese New Year. All of these photos were taken with the Fujifilm XT10 camera and various Fujinon lenses.

Thanks for stopping by today.

J.