Chinese New Year
Winter brings us cooler temperatures and the Chinese New Year Holiday; it’s the perfect opportunity to create some wonderful Chinese New Year crafts at home with our families. Making concertina dragons is one of my favorite crafts and children absolutely love it. Dragons are one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac Signs, and are symbols of power and luck. You need scissors, paper and clue to create a colourful effect. Firstly choose some coloured or recycled paper, cut it into a long strip and add a bright pattern, fold the paper repeatedly in a concertina fashion to make the dragons body. Then use the template provided to add a head and tail, for added effect glue a stick or straw on both ends so you can hold them to twist and fly your dragon through the sky! Red, gold and yellow are the best colours to use as they are lucky Chinese New Year colours. Enjoy making your dragons and spending time with you families this winter season. Click on this link to read the full story of the Chinese New Year Zodiac signs. http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/story.htm
Everyone has heard of the 12 days of Christmas but did you know there are 15 days of Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year's Eve: The house has survived a furious spring cleaning and red banners with auspicious couplets have been diligently pasted on the front door. Now it's time to gorge on a family reunion meal, walk off the calories in a flower market and light incense in the Wong Tai Sin Temple in the early hours of the new year.
Chinese New Year's Day Day 1: Today people drop by to visit some relatives and pop into a temple to light incense and pay respect to their ancestors. Things then rev up for the evening with the glamorous International Chinese New Year Night Parade.
Day 2: Married daughters return to their parents' homes for a meal today. The night sky is then set ablaze with an incredible fireworks display over Victoria Harbour.
Day 3: The third day of the year, called 'Chec Hao', is unfortunately considered a likely time to get into a spat. It's therefore advised to avoid argumentative types on this day and head to a Che Kung temple for some divine help in keeping things cool. Thousands of locals hit the track today for some horse-racing action.
Day 4: After three days of downtime, Hong Kong has finally reopened for business. That means we can all hit the shops again.
Day 7: Called 'Yen Yat', the seventh day of Chinese New Year is the common man's birthday. Wish yourself and everyone you meet a happy birthday!
Day 15: The last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations is known as the Spring Lantern Festival. Today Hong Kong people enjoy lantern displays, traditional performances and even lantern riddle contests.
