Tales of Expat Living, Teaching, and Tramping in Taiwan and Beyond.
The full moon has been known to make people do crazy things. Good thing the final day of the Chinese New year is always planned to fall on one. It’s my theory that the spell of the moon is one of the reasons the Taiwanese have the balls to jump into a sea of fireworks […]
The Yanshui Firework Festival takes place tomorrow in Tainan, located 40 km north of Kaohsiung. Also known as the Beehive Rocket Festival, it has been deemed the 5th most dangerous festival in the world. The event is compromised of bottle rockets, ritualistic dancing, and good food. Who could ask for anything more? But to make it to […]
I’ve noticed a trend, and I’m sure you have noticed it too. It seems to be that everyone and their mom’s birthday takes place during the Chinese New Year. Today the birthday of Guan Yu, also known as the Chinese God of War, is celebrated with-you guessed it- fireworks. Who is Guan Yu? Guan Yu […]
These days are very quiet and uneventful. Traditionally, these were days of rest and relaxation in the company of family. But in our modern day world, there is no time for sleep; everyone here is back to the grind. The only thing to do now is wait for the grand finale: the Lantern Festival, which […]
Day 10 of Chinese New Year doesn’t really have any specific tradition one must follow such as lighting fires, offering sweet foods to bribe the gods, or eating your first born child. Okay. Just kidding about the last one. Today is simply a day to continue praying and to be with family (assuming you are […]
Jade Emperor, they say it’s your birthday. And by they, I mean the industrial sized fireworks that went off by my building this morning at 7 am. My boyfriend and I (in our half- asleep state) surely thought we were under attack. One would think we would be used to it by now, what […]
Today is the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven. At midnight, a few will light incense and give food offerings.However, tomorrow is the day when most will set up altars in their homes with offerings for him. The last few people still remaining on holiday will finally go back […]
The seventh day of Chinese New Year is known as Renri (人日, the common man’s birthday), and many believe this is the day when human beings were created. So today my friends, we are all one year older. Another interesting fact I discovered, is that most Asians add a year to their birth date because they […]
To be honest, day six of Chinese New Year is absent of special rituals. We are at the part of the New Year where things have hit a lull. The middle days are a time of quiet (minus the fireworks) when families feast and spend time together, leading to the final day celebration blowouts. Shockingly, […]
Day five of Chinese New Year is the God of Wealth’s birthday. And what does one do on the God of Wealth’s birthday? Well obviously feast on dumplings, duh. And Karaoke. Yes, you gotta have karaoke. Dumplings (餃子, jiǎozi) symbolize wealth because their shape resembles a Chinese tael, an old school system of Chinese weight […]
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