Lunar New Year 2014

It's a lunar new year today and I wish everyone the best!  Many Asians around the world celebrate with special customs and rituals.  Just looking at food is exciting enough.  In Malaysia they celebrate with a dish of "lo hei" in which a variety of ingredients are put on a large plate and everyone starts mixing it together.  In northern China, dumplings are a very big deal.  Different festivities vary in different areas and merge over time with local cultures.  It's an extremely happy fifteen days basically.

Did you know the first day of the lunar new year is the Maitreya Bodhisattva's birthday?  He is also known as the Budai Luohan.  To the Buddhists, it is considered an important day.  Back in the day, people would abstain from killing animals.  It is also traditional that you would abstain from meat on this day.  Today, some people follow it like my uncle and some people don't, like me.  I had a large reunion with my extended family and we ate quite a lot of things.

You may or may not know that you also celebrate on the eve of lunar new year.  I had a large dinner on the eve of the new year.  My mother pretty much took care of all the cooking while I slaved away with my homework.  I did help prepare a few ingredients when she needed a hand.  During the preceding days, I had also started cleaning the house bit by bit.  I pretty much dusted and wiped down all the nooks and crannies I could find.

If I was dedicated enough, I would probably visit a Buddhist temple to get a fortune.  It seems exciting enough.  When I was kid, I loved going to the parades.  Now, not so much because it's way too crowded.  It's the year of the horse this year so my brother made a paper cut of two horses to hang on the wall.  Which was very nice of him because usually I do it.  One of my uncles was very generous.  Last week or so, he gave my family a chicken, a duck, some good cuts of pork, and two lobsters.  That was some good lobster and now I got more rendered duck fat at home.

This year should be a good year.  I want good progress on my path to a career and my studies.  I want to have my friendships grow stronger and perhaps invite a bit of love in my life.  To be honest love is the last thing on my list, but I wouldn't mind meeting someone that I can get close to in the future. 

I share with you my extremely blurry photo from my phone of the dinner on the eve of the new year.