Tonight is Lunar New Year's Eve, the third 'start' since January 1st. The Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the two week spring festival. The celebration ushers in the year of the pig, which signifies wealth and fortune. Tonight celebrants often participate in a reunion dinner. Friends and family gather over a meal of favourite foods. Tonight I ate at home but had eaten with a friend twice over the weekend. Tomorrow as New Year's Day forbids cleaning for fear of sweeping away good fortune. So -- I have a reason to ignore those tasks <smile>.
I experienced New Year's Eve and Day in Hong Kong many years ago. It was the year of the Horse. The streets were filled with people purchasing new clothes and household items -- so many people in one area was amazing. We saw fireworks over the harbour and a lion dance in the hotel lobbey. On New Year's Day, the two week vacation began for many residents. Needless to say the airport resembled a sardine tin -- people were packed throughout the buildings. Keeping our original flights became challenging as the gate agents tried their best to transfer us to different flights since they'd overbooked. Imagine <sigh>> We stood our ground -- literally and figuratively -- and kept our original itinerary. The flight was fare from the best as the attendants hid out in the galley for most of the flight. There was some job action occurring around that time and we just lucked into less than helpful staffing. The flight duration was 10 hours, so some water might have been useful. Toilets stopped working and many other nasty things happened. But, we survived and got into Vancouver early. We left Hong Kong past noon and arrived in Vancouver at 6 AM on the same calendar day. That was cool <smile>.
The recording shared tonight came to mind and caused me to laugh. Trying to find a song that might fit the day seemed difficult and then this fun, short recording came to the forefront. Enjoy!
Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky -- The Monkees (Peter Tork)
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