We decided to have a look around i China Town during this festival, and ended up eating of course. At the restaurant they had a six-course new years dinner, so we went for that. It all started by tossing yusheng (raw fish salad). All the different ingredients was symbol for something (which i don't remember), but the higher you toss the salad, the more prosperity you will enjoy for the coming year.
The most common Chinese ways of saying Happy New Year are Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin). Gong Xi is congratulations or respectfully wishing one joy. Fa Cai is to become rich or to make money. Thus, Gong Xi Fa Cai means wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year.
The hole of Singapore is decorated and especially China Town. This is one of the displaces that we walked passed. There is a lot of tradition and history around this festival.
As good neighbours we try to blend in with the locals, so I went and bought two "pineapples" (everything is in a per). Later on I was told that these are to catch the good spirits. The next door neighbour, which are proper locals, really decorated the outside, and she gave us some more lanterns to decorate with. We didn't want to overdo it, so the kids got most of them to make their beds nice...Tjihhi!!
Dragon and lion dances are common during Chinese New Year. It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the deafening sounds of the cymbals together with the face of the dragon or lion dancing aggressively can evict bad or evil spirits. I think business owner have lion dancers coming to their house to dance. This is from one of the neighbours house.If you want to read more about the traditions around the Chinese New Year:
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