Welcoming in the Year of the Rabbit in Hong Kong

Balloon float at the Chinese New Year's Day parade.

We spent Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.  It appears to be the only time of the year that stores actually close and they were closed for two days.  This year, 2011, is the Year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese calender.  Chinese New Year is a big deal here, it is like Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's Day all rolled  into one. People celebrate by visiting family and friends, giving out red envelopes with new money inside, attending flower markets.  It is a really fun time of the year.

The holiday starts on the new moon of the first lunar month.  This year that was in early February.  The Chinese calender, just like the Jewish calendar is a lunar one.  The holiday is traditionally 15 days long, though here in Hong Kong the holiday was 3 days.  A lot of people from mainland China come down to Hong Kong to vacation and shop when the stores reopen. 

We participated in four of the activities for the New Year, the parade in Kowloon, the fireworks over the harbour, throwing oranges in a special tree and attending a flower market. 

Fireworks over Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong

31,000 fireworks for a show that lasted about 20 minutes

Four barges in the middle of the harbour staged the show
so that people on both sides could see.  We were on the
Kowloon side and had a great time.



A cloud of smoke hovers over the harbor after the fireworks



New Year's celebrations in Lam Tsuen 


We hiked from Tai Wo to Lam Tsuen so that we could take part in the Wishing Tree celebrations.  There was an old tree in Lan Tsuen that was called the Wishing Tree.  People would write their wishes on a piece of paper and tie the paper to an orange.  The orange would then be thrown as high as possible into the special tree, the higher in the tree the better. 

As you can imagine, after many years the tree was in pretty sad shape, so it has been replaced by a huge plastic tree.  Now you pay $20 HKD for a piece of paper to check off your wishes and the tie the paper to a plastic orange, which is then thrown into the plastic tree.  Sounds corny, but it was a lot of fun. 

Plastic oranges for sale!  The oranges had a sheet of paper with
check boxes of possible new year's wishes (all in Chinese of course),
such as winning the lottery, happiness for your family, your child
getting good grades, and some thing that the people I was with
said I did not need because I was already married.  All in all
there were about 25 check boxes, plus "fill in the blank' on the
opposite side of the paper all other wishes.

Tossing oranges high into the tree.

We also visited a flower show in Victoria Park. According to DiscoverHong Kong.com people look for an "auspicious bloom or plant for the New Year. Kumquat trees, narcissus and peonies bring prosperity; peach blossoms add fire to romance; while tangerine plants with leaves intact help ensure long-lasting relationships and ‘fruitful’ marriages".

The orchids were beautiful.