Search This Blog

Popular Posts

Labels

Monday, January 30, 2023

The Lunar New Year - the Year of the rabbit and cat, and wealth

 

Rabbit motifs for the year of the rabbit at the Tanglin club. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

This picture shows the rabbit for the year of the rabbit. Other symbols on the table are oranges, which are presented to employees or suppliers, not eaten but passed on to somebody else. Notice the pineapple. The gold covered coins. 

The red packets in which you are supposed to place gifts of money for children and  young, single, unmarried children. Inside you put the gift of money. You get crisp, clean new bank notes from a bank. The money should be in lucky numbers such as multiples of eights, such as eight, or eighty-eight. Avoid four and multiples of four because the sound for four sounds similar to the word for death in Chinese (Mandarin).

The red packets you see contain the money. The gold foil covers chocolate coins.  The rabbit toy is in two sizes for babies, or bigger children.

The lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival and as Chinese New Year, in China and countries with large Chinese populations, such as Singapore. 

In Vietnam instead of the rabbit, the animal of the year is the cat. This is because their important crop is rice, and the numbers of rats which eat the rice are reduced by the cats.
The solstice is about the sun, in December, and the equinox is when the days and nights are of equal lengths. 
The lunar new year is not about the sun but about the moon.

Rabbits
I had a soft toy rabbit which I kept on my desk in case I had an opportunity to speak about it during Chinese New Year.
On Saturday 28th January I was in a zoom meeting of a Toastmasters Group for training speakers, Braddell Heights 2. I had been invited to be the Language Evaluator. The table topics (impromptu speeches of 1-2 minutes)  were on the theme of Chinese New Year. The table topics master had pictures of the CNY themes.

I started, "I love Chinese New Year!" 
I held up my puppet.

I thought that I might have inspired everybody else to jump up from their desks, unmute and turn off their picture, whilst they rushed to grab another item connected with CNY. Such as an ang pow (red packet with a gift of money, ideally a multiple of eight, such as 8 or 80 dollars. 9Never the number four which sounds like death.).

No. I was the only one with a CNY prop.

Angela with soft toy white rabbit, used as a prop for speeches. 

Czech White (albino) rabbit.
Well, what do you know! A real rabbit really does have pink ears. (And pink edged eyes.) You learn something every day.

Summary of Symbols
Rabbit - for the Chinese zodiac sign for year of the rabbit
Gold paper covered coins and bars
Mandarin oranges (a pair)
The God of wealth (a person dressed up)
A lion (and a lion dance performed with noise to scare away evil)
Red packets containing money in new notes, adding up to eight which is a lucky number, not four symbolising death
Spring flower blossoms, red, orange, pink and white

Glossary
CNY  - Chinese New Year (abbreviated to the initials)
Solstice - summer
Solstice - winter
lunar New Year
Spring Festival

If you missed the CNY/lunar celebrations, the Tibetan New Year takes place one month later.

Useful Websites

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Astonishing, Agile Lion Dance On Columns, Plus Rabbits At The Tanglin Club Celebrating Chinese New Year in Singapore

 




After entertaining the crowd in the lobby, the lion took a tour of the building, visiting the kitchen, The Tavern restaurant, and other parts of the building.

Useful Websites

Singapore City Street Lights For Chinese New Year

 

Chinese New Year lights on Scotts Road. Photo by Angela Lansbury



Chinese New Year lights on Scotts Road. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 


This corner of Orchard Road always had striking decorations. This year, 2023, it is pink lights up the tree trunks where Scotts Road meets Orchard Road, the centre of the city.

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Anne Frank Sites To Visit in Amsterdam and Around the world


Memorial to the Anne Frank tree, Russell Park, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, UK.

Mural showing Anne Frank. Pastorplatz, Aachen, Germany. Achen, Pastorplatz 1. 


Stolperstein (stepping stones) in Aachen for Anne Frank, her sister Margot, and their mother Edith.

Statue of Anne Frank, Westermarkt, near the Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Marot Frank and Anne Frank gravestone style memorial with star of David in Bergen Belsen, Germany.


Anne Frank mural, with blues, in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Anne Frank statue.


English: Anne Frank lived with her family in a flat at Merwedeplein 37 before they "moved" in their hiding place. This statue of her is standing on the square. The piece of art was created by Jet Schepp.
Deutsch: Anne Frank lebte mit ihrer Familie in einer Wohnung am Merwedeplein 37 bevor sie in ihr Versteck im Hinterhaus fliehen mussten. Diese Statue von ihr steht auf dem Platz. Die Statue ist ein Kunstwerk von Jet Schepp.
Date
SourceOwn work
AuthorCitius Altius Fortius


Statue of Anne Frank with suitcase. Photo from author Maula.


Anne Frank, Amsterdam

Boise, Idaho, statue of Anne Frank looking through a curtain.

Memorial stones for Anne Frank, which appear as a star of David when viewed from the air. In Girona, Catalonia, Spain.


Useful Websites

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/main-characters/otto-frank/ 

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/secret-annex/

https://www.annefrank.org/en/about-us/support-us/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Monuments_and_memorials_to_Anne_Frank

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Statues_of_Anne_Frank

https://wanderwomenproject.com/places/anne-frank-statue-in-new-orleans/

Holocaust Remembrance Day - January 27 - where you can learn more about the liberation of Auschwitz and survivors

 This January day commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz in the south of German-occupied Poland, near Krakow, by the Russians.

The motto over the entrance to the camp was Arbeit macht frei. Work makes you free. Those who could not work, children, the elderly, the disabled, were selected and sent straight to their deaths. 

I remember reading about a survivor who learned that her parents were sent straight to be killed. I was horrified. I thought she would be upset. On the contrary. She was relieved that her parents did not have to witness the horror of the roll calls, watching people being executed.



Pictures of those who did not survive.
In the early days, those who arrived were photographed on arrival for identity. However, those adults selected for survival, after three months their faces and bodies were so thin, so haggard from the horrors, so changed that they were unrecognizable and could not be identified from the photos. So, instead, their arms were stamped with numbers.

Survivors. After six months, children had survived, now well-fed, were brought back to the camp for a photo to show who the Russians had liberated. Whilst they might have been relieved to see each other, I cannot imagine that the children were happy to be back. 

National representatives are invited or volunteer to go to Auschwitz each year for a commemoration. In 2023 the Russians, at war with Ukraine, were not invited.  

If you go to Krakow, as I did, you will find a pretty, small city. It was small enough to be quickly captured and preserved by the invading Germans during WW2 as their HQ in the area. Auschwitz is just outside and one of the main places visited in the area. I knew it would be grim, but if you are taking guided tours you can hardly avoid it, because many full day tours include a half day there, and if you are in the area for two days, you have done most other places on the first day. 

On a slightly lighter note, the museum in the city in Schindler's former factory site, provides much less about those who lose their lives and much more about the survivors. I was glad to visit that afterwards. 

Israel honours those who saved Jews at Yad Vashem. You can visit holocaust memorials and museums all around the world. See below.
Anne Frank was in Auschwitz in Poland and was transported to Bergen Belsen in Germany where she died. 

Useful Websites

HISTORY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp

2023 NEWS

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11683361/Putin-blasts-neo-Nazis-Ukraine-Holocaust-Remembrance-Day.html

MUSEUMS TO VISIT IN POLAND

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz-Birkenau_State_Museum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majdanek_State_Museum

Photos

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Konzentrationslager_Majdanek

UKRAINE - Memorial in Ukraine, Babi Yar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar_Holocaust_Memorial_Center#:~:text=On%20September%2029%2C%202016%2C%20President,Ukraine%2C%20in%202025%2F26.&text=Memorial%20to%20the%20victims%20of%20the%20Holocaust.

UK Holocaust Museum

https://www.visit-nottinghamshire.co.uk/things-to-do/the-national-holocaust-centre-and-museum-p586711

USA Holocaust museum

https://www.ushmm.org/online/ihrd/2023/

ISRAEL

https://www.yadvashem.org/

VENEZUELA

Star of David shape Shoah memorial in Jewish cemetery in Caracus, Venezuela


Holocaust memorials and museums worldwide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Holocaust_memorials_and_museums

A happy story of a survivor and the rescuing family in Belgium

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11671459/Man-revisits-home-mother-hid-Nazis-80-years-ago.html

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Thursday, January 26, 2023

How A Book on Marilyn Monroe led to the O'Henry Museum in Austin, Texas


Marilyn Monroe and Lawrence Olivier in The Prince and The Showgirl.

The Story of Marilyn Monroe

The story of unreliably late but mesmerizing actress, Marilyn Monroe making the film The Prince and The Showgirl, is told in the book about her, of the same name, also My week with Marilyn, by Colin Clark, son of the famous art collector and critic, Kenneth Clark. 

Visit Saltwood Castle

Colin took Marilyn to his parents'  home, Saltwood Castle, which was later used as a backdrop in the film My Week With Marilyn. You can visit Saltwood Castle's gardens a couple of times a year on the open days. The castle has a long history, including supposedly being the venue where four knights met before setting of to kill Thomas Becket (inspiration for T S Eliot's The Wasteland).



This book inspired my family to look up the film. That inspired us to check out the list of Marilyn's other films and to start watching them.

She made many films and at first had bit parts. She looks more sophisticated with her hair up. Her high voice fits her later persona as the little girl, the innocent, childlike girl, which she played later. 

The Stories of O'Henry

One of the films in which she played a small part was based on a short story by O Henry. I remembered O'Henry's most famous story, about the girl who sells her hair to buy her boyfriend a Christmas present. 

O Henry Museum

I went back to research O Henry and found that there was an O Henry Museum in Austin, Texas. I have been to Texas many times, when living in the USA and visiting from the UK and Singapore. However, I never went to Austin. The home of O Henry is now on my wish list.

What is the difference between the USA and the UK and other countries? In the UK you have the real historic place where it has always been and sometimes a reproduction inside a museum elsewhere. 

But in the USA you have the whole house transported to another location, as easily as moving a Monopoly piece around a board. The OHenry house is one of these. The house is authentic, but has moved from its previous location. That changes the view from the windows, as well as the atmosphere, the neighbourhood and neighbours.

Nevertheless, I get the same thrill from seeing the old house where the author lived, the desk, the chairs, the carved wood frame of the bed, the busy wallpaper, the round carpet.

Since Covid-19 it has become difficult to travel because of restrictions, fears, and increases in fares. However, whilst real travel sometimes is more difficult, it becomes increasingly easy to see what you are missing online.

Visiting a museum home online shares advantages with visiting the real home. Photos and objects bring the period of the past alive. Seeing objects makes the stories memorable. What is missing makes you do more research into the lives of the author or other notable person and their family.

O' Henry's Name

One little piece in the puzzle of O'Henry was why he wrote under a pen name. Why do authors have pen names? Many modern authors want to be famous, to make their name famous, to be known. It seems crystal clear to me that he wanted a pen name whilst he was in prison for embezzlement, to conceal his identity. 

He did not write for fame. The only use of fame was to sell more books. He wrote for money, for a living, which is why he was so prolific. As many people have said, if you want money you don't sit around waiting for inspiration. A plumber does not wait for inspiration.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Clark_(filmmaker)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Clark

https://www.saltwoodcastle.com/

https://www.amazon.sg/My-Week-Marilyn-Colin-Clark/dp/1602861498

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe

https://www.austintexas.gov/department/o-henry-museum


Rainy Weather - Reminder for Travellers, Photographers and Swimmers - handy poem


Angela Lansbury in playing card costume and umbrella. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

 It rains all the day

It rains all the night

It looks like the clouds

Are having a fight


Remember this thing

It rains in the spring 

So let's go to town

When prices are down


Now where can we go

When rain's pouring down?

When waterfalls flow -

Exhibitions in town!


It rains all the day

It rains all the night

It looks like the clouds

Are having a fight


Remember this thing

It rains in the spring.

When you see the sun

Grab camera-phones, run


When clouds scuttle past

You have to act fast

Remember this thing

It rains in the spring.


When you see the sun

Grab swimsuits and run

Don't wait 'til its late

Or you've sealed your fate


When you see a discount

You will if you look

Tomorrow it's gone

So be quick and book


Remember this thing

It rains in the spring

It's autumn elsewhere

In this globe we share


Just open your eyes

It is no surprise

Remember this thing

It rains in the spring.

-ends-

Poem by Angela Lansbury. Jan 2023. Copyright.

You may quote a couplet which is fair use in the USA and refer back to the original post.

Remember post-Christmas discounts, Chinese new year offers and decorations and celebrations.

What to see in China, Singapore and Chinatowns in the Uk and USA - see my previous posts. Please share links to your favourite posts.

in whatsApp and on your blog posts.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Slovenia and sites in the capital, Ljubljana


Slovenia 

Slovenia is surrounded by Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia. The Slovenians speak more languages than residents of other European countries.  

To the west are the cave complexes of Postojna and Skocjan. The letter j is pronounced like an i or y. 

Towards the centre, Central Slovenia, is the capital city, Ljubljana. 

The capital is Ljubljana.

One landmark is the triple bridge.

A notable landmark is the Valentin Volnik square. See the statue of the poet, his house, and his tombstone. The tombstone and a coin bear his words

Collections[edit]

The Academy holds more than 13 million objects including costumes, costume sketches, film reelspostersprops, and screenplays dating back to 1927.[1] In May 2020, the museum purchased the May Queen dress worn by Florence Pugh in Midsommar (2019) for $65,000, as part of a charity auction held by A24 to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts.[16]

Some key objects in the Museum's collection include:[citation needed]

Exhibitions[edit]

The second and third floors of the museum will feature the opening exhibition "Stories of Cinema".[19] The inaugural temporary collection of the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery is devoted to Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.[2][20] The exhibition opened on September 30, 2021, and was on view until June 5, 2022. This was the first time Miyazaki’s work was featured in a major retrospective in the United States. The collection also displayed pieces on public view for the first time outside of Japan.[21] The 11,000-square-foot exhibition features more than 300 objects, including original image boards, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds, posters, and cels. The exhibition’s curators, Jessica Niebel and assistant curator J. Raúl Guzmán worked with Studio Ghibli and the Ghibli Museum in Japan to gather all the materials. There are also interactive installations displayed throughout the exhibit, the “Mother Tree,” Skyview, and Magical Forest, to name a few, each inspired by a different Miyazaki Film.[22]


Following that will be an exploration of the history of black cinema through 1971.[1]

Galleries in the museum will be dedicated to a variety of topics. Inaugural galleries will cover:[1]

Valentin Volnik, 







Statue of Hryhoriy Skovoroda, Ljublina, Slovenia.

Hryhoriy Skovoroda also has a statue in Washington DC outside Ukraine House. His statue in Ukraine remained when the museum surrounding it was destroyed by Russian warfare recently. He wrote an epitaph for his grave, They wanted to capture me but could not. 

Food and Drink

The country has the oldest vine, 400 years old.

Useful Websites

Slovenia

Ljubljana

Poet Valentin Vodnik

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_Vodnik

Please save and share links to your favourite posts.



Movie Memorabilia At The Academy Museum, Los Angeles, USA

 




The Academy Museum, Los Angeles, has plenty to inform and entertain both children and adults. 

It starts with a history of films (movies) going way back. 

The interactive exhibits keep you entertained.

I have merged information from different sources in Wikipedia and elsewhere.

Collections

The Academy holds more than 13 million objects including costumes, costume sketches, film reelspostersprops, and screenplays dating back to 1927

Objects in the Museum's collection include:[

Exhibitions

The second and third floors of the museum will feature the opening exhibition "Stories of Cinema". The inaugural temporary collection of the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery is devoted to Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.The exhibition opened on September 30, 2021, and was on view until June 5, 2022. This was the first time Miyazaki’s work was featured in a major retrospective in the United States. The collection also displayed pieces on public view for the first time outside of Japan. The 11,000-square-foot exhibition features more than 300 objects, including original image boards, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds, posters, and cels. The exhibition’s curators, Jessica Niebel and assistant curator J. Raúl Guzmán worked with Studio Ghibli and the Ghibli Museum in Japan to gather all the materials.

 There are also interactive installations displayed throughout the exhibit, the “Mother Tree,” Skyview, and Magical Forest, to name a few, each inspired by a different Miyazaki Film.


Following that will be an exploration of the history of black cinema through 1971.

Galleries in the museum will be dedicated to a variety of topics. Inaugural galleries will cover:

Within walking distance are two other major museums.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Museum_of_Motion_Pictures#cite_note-28

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/its-oscars-season-and-film-fans-are-going-mad-for-hollywoods-new-museum-l5hmg5ssl

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Albanian's Capital Museum Cafe and wineries - 40 words of Albanian



Photo author Klejdi Shtrepi. From Wikimedia Commons.

Arriving in Tirana, the capital, at Mother Teresa airport, you might make your first stop the museum cafe, Komiteti Kafe Muzeum. Not a cafe turned into a museum, but a collector who opened a cafe to attract people to see his collection. Items from all eras include embroidered felt dresses. the word Komiteti means committee.

They say you can see Tirana in a day. Which means a two night stay. (I couldn't.) After that, it's off to the wineries.

 Albania has lots of wineries, all over the country. 


Useful words for maps and street signs

The double dot is like the German unlaut

I copied it once, then used paste to put it in all the words where I needed it in the dictionary or glossary list

Albanian - English

rruga - street (like the French word rue)

Similar words, hotel, menu, toalet (toilet) restaurat (restaurant) 

Kafe is coffee

bar kafeje is coffee bar

kafene is cafe

bar-rostiçeri - snack bar

ushqime të shijshme - delicatessen (meaning delicious foodliterally provisions of delicious)

ushqim is food, ushqimet is foods


English Albanian

1-10

alcohol - alkoolit

bay -gjiri

beach - plazhi

bill - fature

breakfast - mëngjes


bridge - urë

castle - kështjellë

cheap - i lirë

closed - mbyllur

dinner - darkë


11-20

drink - pije

entrance - hyrje /exit - dalje

expensive -shtrenjtë

no entry -ndalohet hyrje

hill - kodër


hotel - hotel

house - shtëpi

left - majtas  - right - djathtas  

straight (ahead)/to drejt (starts with the letter d, later letters re, and ends with t, like the English word direct)

lunch  - drekë

main street/high street - rruga krysore . rruga e lartë


21-30

menu - menu

mountain - mali

museum - muzeu

new - i ri

north - veriu


old - l vjetër

open - hapur

park - parku

parking (lot, or car park) - parking

please - ju lutem


31-40

restaurant - restorant

right

road/path - rrugë

sea/salt water - deti

south - jug


square -katrore

street / path - rrugë (or spell it rruga)

thank you - faleminderit

toilet - tualet

breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner - mëngjes / drekë / çaj / darkë


Address

Rruga Fatmir Haxhiu, Tirana, Albania

Useful Websites

Museum Cafe In Tirana

https://thebalkanista.com/2018/02/28/komiteti-kafe-museum-one-favourite-spots-tirana/

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g294446-d7912633-Reviews-Komiteti_Kafe_Muzeum-Tirana_Tirana_County.html

Find the e to copy into Albanian words in the right size here in Wikipedia from German or from the word reëntry under the side heading English"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8B

Chinese New Year in Singapore in January - and Chingay Parade in February

 

Red wall hanging and pink flowers at Cashew Heights Condominium, Singapore in January 2023. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.


Chingay Parade
We have more to look forward to. The Changay Parade in Singapore takes place on Friday February 3rd 2023 and Saturday February 4th. 
The government website shows photos from previous years, apparently sent in after a request to citizens. The recent pre-Covid event in 2021, which just made it before the restrictions, was a water based event, not on the river nor the sea but on a created water area.
I was confused by the advertising, because the event is supposed to be free, but you can buy some high priced tickets. I presume the tickets are for a constructed seating area, up high overlooking the central stage showing the start and end of the parade floats. 

More events take place in the 'heartlands', suburban city centres, some of which were originally villages and pioneer days government housing and shops and office development areas. Since Covid, because of Covid, to prevent crowding, and to enable everybody to share in the national events which unite everybody patriotically, local events are organized for major celebrations, spreading areas enjoying the fun and the government funds for events.
A favourite new year song is Congratulations, congratulations, Gong Xi Gong Xi.
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gong_Xi_Gong_Xi

Chinese lyricsHanyu PinyinEnglish Translation

每条大街小巷,
每个人的嘴里
见面第一句话,
就是恭喜恭喜
恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀,
恭喜恭喜恭喜你

měitiáo dà jiē xiǎo xiàng,
měige rén dè zuǐ lǐ
jiànmiàn dì yī jù huà,
jiù shì gōngxǐ gōngxǐ
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ ya
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ

On every street and in every lane,
On everybody's lips,
Whenever people meet,
The first thing they say is "Congratulations."
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you

冬天已到尽头
真是好的消息
温暖的春风
就要吹醒大地
恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀
恭喜恭喜恭喜你

dōng tiān yǐ dào jìn tóu,
zhēn shì hǎo de xiāo xī
wēn nuǎn de chūn fēng,
jiù yào chuī xǐng dà dì
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ ya
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ

Winter has come to an end,
That is really good news,
A warm spring breeze is
Blowing to wake up the earth.
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you

浩浩冰雪融解,
眼看梅花吐蕊
漫漫长夜过去,
听到一声鸡啼
恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀,
恭喜恭喜恭喜你

hào hào bīng xuě róng jiě,
yǎn kàn méi huā tù ruǐ
màn màn cháng yè guò qù,
tīng dào yī shēng jī tí
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ ya
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ

The icy snow has melted,
See the plum tree blossom!
The long night is past,
I heard the rooster crow.
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you

经过多少困难,
历经多少磨练
多少心儿盼望,
盼望新的消息
恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀,
恭喜恭喜恭喜你

恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀,
恭喜恭喜恭喜你

jīng guò duō shǎo kùn nán,
lì jīng duō shǎo mó liàn
duō shǎo xīn ér pàn wàng,
pàn wàng xīn de xiāo xī
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ ya
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ

gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ ya
gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ[3]

After experiencing so many difficulties,
Going through so many ordeals,
How many hearts are looking forward
To the news of Spring!
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you

Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you


Useful Websites
See a youtube version of singing  the New Year song
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcMGcT6gByM

Wikipedia Chinese New Year
Wikipedia Chingay Parade




Chinese New Year
Spring Festival (Chinese characters).svg
"Chinese New Year" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese春節
Simplified Chinese春节
Literal meaning"Spring Festiv

I checked translate google for the words for 
spring festival 
to be sure which way round it was. 

I then divided the sections of the Chinese compound phrases and they mean spring-sky festival-day
Chinese (Simplified)
English
春
天
节
日
Chūn
tiān
jié
rì