Happy New Year (Take Two)!!

Monday is Chinese (or Lunar) New Year, it will be the year of the Ox.  This is HUGE HUGE HUGE in Asia.  I mean HHHUUUGGGGEEEEE!!  People are even now beginning to travel and are heading home for some time with family.  Lots of people close their businesses for a whole week, most everything is closed Monday and Tuesday.  Which makes Hudson happy since he has no school :-)!

Some things are traditional with this holiday no matter where it is celebrated.  They decorate with red and orange since they are the colors representing luck and wealth.  People eat special food, get new clothes, and give gifts.  The kids especially love it since anyone not yet married get small red envelopes from friends and family.  Even in Glasgow, our little friend Reuben said he will get envelopes with $50 or $100. "Never a one dollar," he informed us.  Not too bad for a 10 year-old.

We seen this all over nowadays.  They are mandarin oranges.  As far as I can tell enough oranges are sold around now for every man, woman, and child to give and receive one box.  I have no idea what they are doing with all these oranges.  Every store and alongside the road you see stacks and stacks of them.

A neighbor gave us a few.  To prove they are authentically Chinese they include this delicious bit of English:   "Juicy, sweet and sour taste sweet, good taste alone at home and abroad, said the."  If you've got writing like that, you've got the real deal.  Enjoy said the.
Since everyone goes visiting from house to house people need to buy lots of drinks.  This is four baskets (or baskarts, or buggies depending on where you are from).  These are full of "100 Plus" is a kind of drink that tastes really bad but has the word isotonic in its name.  I'm not sure what that means but you can get it just about anywhere around here.  The groceries have set-up special outdoor sections to hold all the soft drinks, beer, and soy milk that is being sold.  I'm not sure who the bear-faced kid is...

We have this same set-up in about 5 malls.  They have done some Chinese dancing and stuff.  Also yesterday we saw one place that had been having "Drinking Coffee Contest" and "Eating Sushi Contest" which I'll bet were both interesting.

This is (if I'm not wrong) the god of prosperity.  One mall had a guy dressed up in a costume like Santa Claus giving out gold coin shaped chocolate candies.  I've seen small versions inside some temples around here but nothing like this huge guy.  

Prosperity is the main deal at least as far as advertising goes.  McDonald's has the Prosperity Burger, KFC has prosperity deals, all the signs say, "Wishing you a prosperous New Year."  Its the most important part of new year--money, health, good luck, etc.

So, want to participate?  Go out and buy some mandarin oranges or tangerines and drop them by your local Chinese buffet on Sunday night and tell the folks,"Happy New Year."  One year in Glasgow, we even got invited to the midnight bash with all the special food.   They couldn't wait for the folks to clear out that night!!

We've seen ads this week telling people which things to buy for the new year for good fung shei.  Like a tiger statue to scare away bad luck or a special kind of knife to cut away problems and bring you prosperity.  Maybe you know a secret about riches and glory that you'd like to share with some folks who have never heard it.  This is a great time of year, drop by and give it a shot!!