Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
As I'm going to be busy with friends and family over the holiday season (and won't be online for a week or two), just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope you enjoy a safe and pleasent holiday period.
Merry Christmas
To everybody!
Festivus and everyting is over. Time for a rotten 2010.
Food items Name Description Buddha's delight
(simplified Chinese: 罗汉斋; traditional Chinese: 羅漢齋; pinyin: luóhàn zhāi) An elaborate vegetarian dish served by Chinese families on the eve and the first day of the New Year. A type of black hair-like algae, pronounced "fat choy" in Cantonese, is also featured in the dish for its name, which sounds like "prosperity". Hakkas usually serve kiu nyuk (Chinese: 扣肉; pinyin: kòuròu) and ngiong teu fu.
Nian gao (Chinese: 年糕) Most popular in eastern China (Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai) because its pronunciation is a homophone for "a more prosperous year (年高 lit. year high)". Nian gao is also popular in the Philippines because of its large Chinese population and is known as tikoy there. Known as Chinese New Year pudding, nian gao is made up of glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, salt, water, and sugar. The colour of the sugar used determines the colour of the pudding (white or brown).
The origin of the Lunar New Year Festival can be traced back thousands of years, involving a series of colorful legends and traditions. One of the most famous legends is Nian 年, an extremely cruel and ferocious beast that the ancients believed would devour people on New Year’s Eve. To keep Nian away, red-paper couplets are pasted on doors, torches are lit, and firecrackers are set off throughout the night, because Nian is said to fear the color red, the light of fire, and loud noises. Early the next morning, as feelings of triumph and renewal fill the air at successfully keeping Nian away for another year, the most popular greeting heard is gong xi 恭喜, or “congratulations.”
To ensure good luck in the coming year, the Taiwanese always give every dish a special name. This dish is called “Five Blessings for the New Year” and represents longevity, wealth, peace, wisdom, and righteousness. (Photo by Chang Su-ching)
Even though Lunar New Year celebrations generally last for only several days, starting on New Year’s Eve, the festival itself is actually about three weeks long. It begins on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the day, it is believed, when various gods ascend to heaven to pay their respects and report on household affairs to the Jade Emperor, the supreme Taoist deity. According to tradition, households busily honor these gods by burning ritualistic paper money to provide for their traveling expenses. Another ritual is to smear malt sugar on the lips of the Kitchen God, one of the traveling deities, to ensure that he either submits a favorable report to the Jade Emperor or keeps silent.
Next, “spring couplets” are hung up around the house. Spring couplets are paper scrolls and squares inscribed with blessings and auspicious words, such as “good fortune,” “wealth,” “longevity,” and “springtime.” The paper squares are usually pasted upside down, because the Mandarin word for “upside down,” dao, is a homonym of the word “arrival.” Thus, the paper squares represent the “arrival” of spring and the “coming” of prosperous times.
Tradition says that the wider the split in the top of the fa gao 發糕, which is a type of rice cake, the more prosperous the coming year will be.
On Lunar New Year’s Eve, family members who are no longer living at home make a special effort to return home for reunion and share in a sumptuous meal. At that time, family members hand out hong bao, or “lucky money” in red envelopes, to elders and children. They also try to stay up all night to welcome the New Year, as it has long been believed that by so doing on New Year’s Eve, their parents would live a longer life. Thus, lights are kept on the entire night—not just to drive away Nian, as in ancient times, but also to make the most of the family get-together. In addition, some families even hold religious ceremonies after midnight to welcome the God of the New Year into their homes, a ritual that is often concluded with a huge barrage of firecrackers.
Is that you're response when someone in a store wishes you a "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays"?It is only Dec 22 here.
I'll just quote myself from last year because a year later, I'm in the EXACT same situation.Holidays? WHAT HOLIDAYS? I'm working like a mad man just trying to keep up with the amount of work I have. People are crazy this time of the year and everyone wants everything before Friday. But the suppliers, unlike the customers, are feeling really relax and many among them have stopped taking orders...last Friday! Finding hardware to fulfill my orders has been insane and it'll be a miracle if I receive everything soon enough. It's mad, mad, mad, mad, MAD!
Christmas is pure evil.
I normally don't answer vocally, but my eyes scream "Go FY!"Normally I say, "You too."
I'll wish you all a jolly Saturnalia.
I'll wish you all a jolly Saturnalia.
Just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday period.
It can't be that important if precipitation exceeds a foot a month.
Yes and a time for remembering Tony, wherever he is and however he is using his time now. May he be healthy and strong.