Chinese New Year Nearer - Decorations

 

Chinese New Year decorations in Singapore with lanterns. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The decorations are going up all over the world, especially in Singapore in the condominiums. 

As this picture shows, January 6th 2021. So early. 

"Yes, because Chinese New Year is early this year!" comments my swimming companion, 'Veronica'. 

Not that early, February 1st, which is less than a month away.

Decorations are in outdoor areas which are protected by projections, with artificial flower displays in large vases.

Chinese Writing Symbols

 The hanging mottos have tassels in a reddish orange colour. Some of the symbols are read on a gold background. Others are gold on a red background. 

If you have trouble recognizing the symbol, that might be because the symbols are hung upside down. The story goes that good luck symbols were hung outside houses to ward off plague. First the good news. The plague ended. Then the bad news. The emperor rode out to admire the symbols. Then he saw that one illiterate family had hung their symbol upside down - he was incensed! 

He was about to condemn them to death, when the quick-thinking and kind empress pointed out that one of the symbols has a second meaning. It also means upside down. 

So, the family was saved. They had 'double happiness' (a Chinese wish), spared the plague and spared the anger of the emperor. To commemorate this good luck, the symbols are now hung upside down. 

 Overhead are red lanterns with swirling golden and red hanging items attached and blowing in the wind.

The public malls have more decorations, multi-storey outside the malls. Multi-storey indoors in the atriums.

At night the strings, scallops and little lights hanging down like stalactites, flash on and off, like fairyland.

About the Author

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

Christmas Decorations in Singapore, Free to see, Buy Paper Plates Or Gingerbread Houses

 Santa fallen over - after a heavy night in 2020. Cashew Heights condo in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Santa decorations and tree in Cashew Heights condo in Singapore in 2021. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Looking carefully, I see that the Santa on the left is the same one as last year, presumably kept in storage.

Xmas decorations on sale in Fairprice supermarket, Bukit Panjang, Singapore. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

A friend in Singapore in a Whatsapp group told us that she created a lovely vase of decorations at an even better budget price from Daiso. I saw Xmas decorations in Daiso in Ion, at the central crossroads of Singapore in the middle of Orchard Road.

Free to see, decorations in Scotts Road leading to Ion Shopping Mall, far centre, at Orchard Road at lunch time in the rain. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Ion, later the same day in the sun with Xmas lights. Corner of Orchard Road, adjoining Orchard MRT unerground railway station. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

On a budget? Paper plates for Xmas at Daiso. In Ion, Orchard Road, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Got cash to splash?

Gingerbread House in the Tanglin Club, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Useful Websites

https://www.daisosingapore.com.sg/

https://www.fairprice.com.sg/

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Halloween Club decorations, dress code and prizes

Inside the large plastic pumpkin were a selection of chocolates and small biscuits.

Another meeting I attended asked the members and guests to wear black or orange or Halloween outfits. A prize was offered for the best outfit.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Chinese New Year Decorations And Customs

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2017.

This photo was taken in Toa Payoh at ground level above the MRT railway station.

A quick guide to what to see and do in Singapore for Chinese New Year.

1 Decorations all over Singapore, especially in shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, community centres, office building lobbies, and entrances to apartment blocks.
2 Red packets in which you place money for unmarried relatives, or discount coupons for customers.Ideally use multiples of eight which is a lucky number.
3 Lo Hei dinners in restaurants and clubs. I thought Lo Hei was invented in Singapore but a girl from Hong Kong claimed it was a Hong Kong custom.
4 Oranges, pairs of oranges, are given to friends, family, customers, and passed from one person to another.
5 Expert airports to be busy, flights fully booked, long queues and high prices during the festive season.
6 Reunion dinners for families on the first day of the Chinese New Year, friends or more distant family members on day two.
7 At Toastmasters International speakers' clubs (of which there are about 250) visitors are asked to say their name and what they like to do for Chinese New Year.
8 The traditional greeting is displayed everywhere :
恭喜发财 (gōng xǐ fā cái) Wish you wealth and prosperity.

Chinese New Year changes with the calendar. In 2017 it starts Saturday January 28th.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

John Lewis Sales and Delightful Lights and Decorations

John Lewis in Intu Watford has a clearance sales and the seasonal decorations in the centre of the
atrium are a delight.

The hangings go from the top to the basement by the lifts and escalators. You can admire them from any level.

Large interlocked silver mirror discs and strings of tiny lights give a sparkly effect. The slender green triangular trees are a subtle reference to winter conifers, more like poplars than Christmas trees, (consulting my tree reference book I-spy trees). Red trees add warmth.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker,

Happy Chinese New Year in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, England, Canada and the USA

My pictures of previous years' Chinese New Year decorations in hotels and shopping malls in Singapore.

Red decorations and Chinese characters.

Chinese lanterns in orange.

The lion dance. Very noisy.

Fireworks in Beijing video is on the BBC site and there must be many more on Youtube from Chinese areas: China, Singapore, Taiwan, Chinese areas in Malaysia, Chinatowns in New York and San Francisco in the USA, Vancouver in Canada, London and Manchester in England - and on Chinese language sites.

First thing to do is send cards, cards, emails to friends overseas. In Singapore we would be given free red packets by banks and even McDonalds, containing advertising or discount vouchers in the red packets in which you traditionally give money, especially from married elders to the young and single. This is a Chinese tradition and eight is lucky so multiples of eight are auspicious.

You are likely to hear the sounds of the lion dancers carried on trucks (lorries as we would say in the UK) to destinations where they will perform. Troupes will dance outside restaurants newly opened, shopping malls, hotels and public places.

Gong Xi Fa Cai  (Happy New Year)

Angela Lansbury B A Hons is a travel writer, photojournalist, author and speaker.