China - Chinese Lantern Festival

I talked about Chinese New Years or Spring Festival in my previous blog. That was on January 23. I forgot to mention a couple customs that are done here. Everyone receives a red envelope. Employers give the employees a red envelope, children receive a red envelope from their parents and family and friends hand them out when they visit each other. It has money in it and is for good luck and happiness. Employers typically give one month's salary. Expats are expected to give their driver and aye (housekeeper) a red envelope before the New Year.

Spring rolls are also a tradition during Spring Festival. They look like ancient money. Ancient money had a hole in the middle and were carried on a string which looked like a long roll. Today, it is customary in a family to hide a coin inside one of them. The person who gets that spring roll is suppose to receive extra good luck.

The children in local school have 3 weeks off for the Spring Festival. Companies shut down for a week also. Some even shut down for the entire Spring Festival.

During the fifteen day festival, fireworks were set off at all hours of the day and night. Thursday, January 26, was the 5th Night. This is the night that people set off fireworks to scare off the monster, Nian, and to call in the Money God. The amount of fireworks was similar to Chinese New Years Eve - went on for about 7 hours! Let me remind you - these are not the noise makers, but the large colorful ones we see on Fourth of July.


Monday, January 6, was the Lantern Festival. Everywhere you look they have hung the Chinese Lanterns. In the past, adults and children would have a paper lantern that was shaped like a rabbit with a candle in it. It would be dragged along the street in a parade. It is not done too much here in Shanghai, but I imagine it still is done in small villages. The rabbit shape is used because of a legend that says an angel came down to earth and fell in love with a poor farmer. When the god found out, he turned her into a white rabbit in heaven. The couple  can only get together on a full moon, and the one during Spring Festival and Autumn Festival (August 15) are suppose to be the most special! The rabbit lantern is a reminder of this love story.

The Lantern Festival, the 15th Night, marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebration. Another night of fireworks! Being a Monday, they only lasted about 5 hours! The fireworks during this past two weeks have been amazing! Words can not describe them. Just picture the grand finale on Fourth of July times 4 to 6 hours! That is pretty much what it has been like (at least on those 3 days I have mentioned). The other nights in between have been small displays. I have to say though, by the end we were not running to the windows to watch them as much!

Daniel had a sleepover on Saturday night and the Green Villa complex threw a large celebration with lots of food, activities and entertainment. On Sunday,  we went to Leisure Center and they were having a Lantern Festival celebration. See the pictures below. Spring Festival has been quite the holiday!

These old style lanterns, in the past, were used as a sort of
advertisement. They have pictures on them, so stores would put
pictures on them, rich families would advertise themselves.
This style is my favorite. Behind the bushes
are the playing fields for Dulwich school (British).

Looking down the pathway at all the lanterns. This is outside
Green Leisure Center, where Pines Grocery store is and
where a lot of Western restaurants. Oh yeah - a great message
place, too!

This is a group of all women who perform a drum act.

Part of a group who did a dance performance. The story is
about a monk (in yellow) who traveled east to learn more
about Buddha. He was accompanied by another man (in purple)
who, along with 2 others, were to protect the monk. They
each were brought along because they had done something
wrong and had to make it right, The man in purple was a
thief and murderer.

The second person was the Monkey King (in gold).

The woman is the actual person - the man is the
costume (I think a type of paper mache). This
man was turned into a pig face man because he watched angels
bathing. He is the third man to travel with the monk.
As the four traveled to the west they came to a town
of all women. The pig faced man fell in love and married a woman.
In ancient Chinese tradition, the man must carry his bride back to
his village. That is what this costume.

I have not mentioned the weather lately. It has gotten really cold here. I was told because were are in southern China it will not get as cold as Massachusetts. Well that is sort of true - it has not dropped down to 0 or below, but it has been in the teens and 20's and it is a bitter cold. The wind blows and the air is damp due to all the moisture in the air. We have had a few flurries, but no actual snow accumulation. Mostly it rains. It is very rainy here in the winter.

We had to have maintenance come up and check our windows because there was so much moisture on them. They told us that we keep our apartment to hot. Let me explain - we do not put the heat on during the day and we only put it on for about an hour before we go to bed and then shut it off - but we keep it to hot! If you remember, the Chinese wear their coats in their houses. Well since I refuse to wear my coat in the apartment, we have to deal with the water that accumulates. So every morning I have to take a squeegee and scrape the water off the windows and then use a rag to soak all the water up. Everyday I get about a quarter of a bucket of water! This, added to washing the deck floor for laundry and dusting and cleaning to keep up with the dust, is very frustrating! Can anyone say AYE!!!