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Day 1 of Chinese New Year (25 Jan)

I woke up at 9.30 am today , surprised that I was not feeling too lethargic despites the fact that I slept close to 4 am last night. I must be feeling enthralled as today is the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year!
I ate the 'poh-piah' (spring roll) deliciously and freshly made by my mother as breakfast and popped some Chinese New Year snacks into my mouth as a supplement. After that, I caught the repeat television telecast of the Chinese New Year variety show, first broadcasted on Chinese New Year eve, on Channel 8. For this annual variety show, the part which I anticipated watching yearly is the part on astrology for the 12 different animals of the Chinese Zodiac sign.
This year, the astrologer was not the usual guy we see yearly. Hmm, this year, the astrologer gave quite a very bad astrology forecast for most of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac sign, befitting a year of the economic crisis? Anyway, I do not believe in all these talk. If it happens that my astrology for the coming year is good, I will of course be pleased, but if not, I will also not bother much too, as I believe in myself being the creator of my destiny rather than just simply believe and be guided in some superstition. Anyway, I do observe every year whether my animal sign will 'fan tai shui' (offend a heavenly deity). The background of this belief is that come every Chinese Lunar New Year, out of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, there will be some animals who will be in direct conflict with a heavenly Chinese deity called tai shui.The remedy: go to a temple and pray to tai shui for forgiveness. Ya this year, my animal sign does not offend tai shui, thus I do not need to visit the temple for such prayer. However I did remember the times when my animal sign was in conflict with Tai Shui. Then, my parents brought me to a temple, where we told one of the temple attendants that we wanted to pray to tai shui. Then, the temple attendant brought me to kneel in front of the Tai Shui statue, uttered some prayers and after the ceremony, the old lady chopped a red squarish ink pattern on my back, just below the head as a mark of 'completion'.
Anyway, coming back to Day 1 of Chinese New Year, after watching the TV show, I visited my dear's house first and then brought her to my home to visit my family. Visiting relatives and family is a norm of the Chinese New Year during which red packets or ang baos are exchanged. In the evening, a large group of about 30 relatives came to visit our family as my father is the oldest child of my late grandparents. We have hardly any seating space for some of them! Some poor kids of our relatives have to contend sitting in our balcony as it was super packed and noisy in the living room. Delicious mees, rice, satays, drink and goodies flowed fast and furious in our house. After almost 2 hours of catching up, eating and laughter, my bunch of relatives left collectively.
After they had made their move, it was about 7.30 pm and the night was still young. I brought my fiancee to River HongBao 2009. River Hongbao 2009 was such a great event that I would dedicate a post to it ... so do stay tuned (to my blog!)
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