Tales of Expat Living, Teaching, and Tramping in Taiwan and Beyond.
Day four of Chinese New Year is somewhat uneventful compared to the last few days. The fires have dwindled, the firecrackers are fewer and further between (but make no mistake they are still going strong ), and people have slowly started to make their way back into the cities from holiday. Most importantly, the trash […]
With all of the excitement of Chinese New Year, I completely forgot about Carnival. Last year in Honduras this would have been impossible to forget seeing as Catholicism is an ingrained part of the culture. But currently, I am in Asia, and anything to do with the church is a distant memory. I don’t even […]
Day Three of Chinese New Year is known as the Chìkǒu 赤口, which directly translates to “red mouth”. It is customary to burn more paper offering over trash fires, but I have witnessed none of this in Kaohsiung. I have been told it is still practiced in rural areas. I guess people in big cities […]
According to legend, day two of the Chinese New Year, called the kāinián 开年 “beginning of the year”, is the birthday of all dogs. It is customary to give them special treats, so in preparation for this I bought some dog biscuits to pass out to all the pups. Usually, there are countless dogs running […]
Day one of Chinese New Year is the day for welcoming the Gods of the heavens and earth. At the same time, the evil spirits need to be chased away, hence the non-stop fireworks. In the Western world, fireworks take place on New Years Eve, and then everyone must wait another year for the time […]
I moved to Taiwan 3 weeks ago, and it just so happens that tomorrow will be Chinese New Year. As a guest in this country, I have decided to take the opportunity to experience the New Year like a local, and have made it a mission to take part in all of the traditional Chinese […]
Chinese New Year is a momentous two week celebration in China and many other Asian countries. Imagine the Christmas –er, I am being very politically incorrect. Let’s try again. Imagine the “Holiday” season in the States, and add a little ancestor homage, incense burning, pig roasting, lantern lighting, dragon dancing, and of course fireworks, and […]
Nomad Notions 