FESTIVALS


CHINESE NEW YEAR 


   Celebrated on the first day of the Chinese Lunar Calendar, this is the most important annual festival for the Chinese community. Each year is named after one of the 12 animals according to the Chinese Zodiac.Houses are cleaned and decorated to prepare for the big day.


   Debts are settled, prayers and offerings are made. New clothes are bought and plenty of food are prepared. Family members from far come back for the gathering. New year cards are exchanged between friends and relatives. A reunion dinner for the family is held on the eve of the new year.
   
   Bad language and unpleasant topics are discouraged.There are lion dances and small fire works. Red paper showing Chinese characters of prosperity and wealth are pasted either in front or inside the house. Ang-Pow or red packet containing money is given out to children and elderly.

    Open house is practiced for visiting relatives and friends with various ethnic races. The new year is lasted for fifteen days which the concentration is on the first three days. The celebration ends with the Chap Goh Mei on the fifteenth day.




                                                                                                                              







CHAP  GOH
MEH 



In Hokkien dialect, it means the 15th night of Chinese New year. It is celebrated with prayers and offerings to mark the end of the Chinese New Year. Houses are again brightly decorated with lights for the last day of the celebration.You can see that several of the homes offer offerings for the deities as the candles and joss sticks flicker in the wind. 


If you go to temples you can see several of the devotees carry out prayers and asking the God of Prosperity to bless them with good results and wealth for the coming year. 

The night will also be filled with activities as you may be in a position to witness cultural performances, lion dances and other many activities which you will have to wait a different year for should you miss out on it that nightLegend has seem young unmarried women throwing tangerines into the sea hoping to find a good husband. After this day, business as usual and everyone is looking forward for the next Chinese New Year.




                                                                  

  Festival of the 

Heavenly God or Jade Emperor





the video of introduction and celebration Jade Emperor Birthday in Malaysia.



  Festival of the Heavenly God or Jade Emperor starts on the early morning of the 9th day of the Chinese lunar calendar (after midnight of the 8th day). It is the most important spring festival for the Hokkiens, a celebration which is celebrated widely by the Buddhist and Taoists Chinese in Malaysia.

 The celebration marks the birthday of the Jade Emperor or Guardian or Heavenly God, who lives in the center of the universe. The most important offering for the Hokkien community is 'kam chia' or sugar cane. 
   In Penang, this festival is celebrated with in a grand scale, and can be observed at the Clan Jetties, near the ferry terminal. The height of celebration starts near midnight on the 8th day of the Chinese lunar calendar. Prayers and offering are made to the god in front of the homes of many Chinese in the country . Houses are usually brightly lit on this night. There is usually fireworks on a feast after the prayers.



                                                                                                                                                         



The Dongzhì Festival

Dongzi Festival also known as Winter Solstice, is a solar term in Chinese lunar calendar and often falls on December 22 or 23 (solar calendar) every year.Today this tradition of celebrating Winter Solstice is a cultural practice for many Chinese worldwide and it is considered as an auspicious celebration. 

  In Malaysia and Singapore, the Dongzhi Festival is celebrated as family get together event. It is the time where families gather to make and eat tang yuan or balls of glutinous rice balls, which symbolize reunion. Tang yuan are made of glutinous rice which is grounded to a flour and then colored The flour balls may be plain or stuffed with a sweet bean paste or ground nuts.

 They are cooked in a sweet light syrup or savory broth. Some Chinese Taoist and Buddhist will make tang yuan offering to their ancestors on this day. Many Chinese also consider this a cultural event, a time for a family gathering.

                                                                                                                                                     


The Moon Cake Festival


      The Moon cake Festival, also known as Mid-Autumn Festival, falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month which is Sept 24 this year.       


Historically, it was a 
harvest festival for farmers but traditionally, womenfolk worshiped Chang-Er, the moon goddess. Moon cakes are also known as ``reunion cakes'' as family members gather to partake of the sweet confectionery. 

   Moon cakes are eaten throughout the month before the actual festival day. They make meaningful gifts for kith and kin. In the evenings, children gleefully carry lanterns of all shapes and sizes.
 The bearing of lanterns and the origin of moon cakes date back to a 14th century revolt by the Chinese against the Mongols.




                                                                                                                          








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