Xin Nian Kuai Le!!
The year of the snake is over. Good thing: it was one of the worst years ever. The year of the horse should prove to be better. Tuesday was New Year's Day. Monday, we spent the day in Keelung, a northern port on the tip of Taiwan, with my uncle's family.
After a huge lunch, it was pretty boring for the afternoon. When dinner neared, the rituals started. A table was set in the living room. Food, bowls, chopsticks, candles and wine, all for the spirits of the ancestors. In the front of the house, we burned a big pile of offeratory "money" (just cheap-grade recycled paper) to appease the spirits. At all the temples, thousands of people lit incense at midnight for their respective ancestors. New Year's is really chaotic. All of the insanity of Christmastime and all of the noise and hubbub of the Fourth of July.
We eventually got to eat the food, which was now a little cold, and the adults returned to their mahjong orgy. I remained bored with my cousin until 6 a.m., when we finally got to go home. I fell asleep as soon as I hit my mattress, but I didn't sleep long. There was a tiny earthquake at 11 a.m. 6.2 on the richter scale. I didn't even know what it was; I just thought it was some jackhammering from construction.
We went to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall in the afternoon and wasted a roll of film. All good pictures require sacrificing film. Lets hope they come out nicely. Happy New Year.
After a huge lunch, it was pretty boring for the afternoon. When dinner neared, the rituals started. A table was set in the living room. Food, bowls, chopsticks, candles and wine, all for the spirits of the ancestors. In the front of the house, we burned a big pile of offeratory "money" (just cheap-grade recycled paper) to appease the spirits. At all the temples, thousands of people lit incense at midnight for their respective ancestors. New Year's is really chaotic. All of the insanity of Christmastime and all of the noise and hubbub of the Fourth of July.
We eventually got to eat the food, which was now a little cold, and the adults returned to their mahjong orgy. I remained bored with my cousin until 6 a.m., when we finally got to go home. I fell asleep as soon as I hit my mattress, but I didn't sleep long. There was a tiny earthquake at 11 a.m. 6.2 on the richter scale. I didn't even know what it was; I just thought it was some jackhammering from construction.
We went to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall in the afternoon and wasted a roll of film. All good pictures require sacrificing film. Lets hope they come out nicely. Happy New Year.