The Lunar New Year

The lunar year of Chinese, Japanese and Korean people consists of twelve Zodiac animals rotating twelve every years: Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger and Rabbit. Some of these animals and their friends paid Hong Kong a visit recently.

When the Zoo came to Tsim Sha Tsui

The animals they came all
A sunny winter, not fall
One by one the lunar year
To see from far and near
Like a zoo come to our town
Hoping to return by sundown

Water Dragon

The Water Dragon elegant, long
He spanned above the throng

The Zebra too, he was there,
Forgot his stripes I swear

Horses

Purple, Magenta horses two
Meeting friends Snow and Skyblue

Ram

A donkey, a ram
Surely not two from Siam

Python

A Prussian python in spotted coil
Confused by all the turmoil

Cockerel

Past noon but the cockerel he crowed
Had he no wings he would’ve rowed

Parakeets

In a ring two parakeets blue agate
Among grapes and pomegranate

Rat

A rat, ‘Oh my God,’ he said
‘Is that a dragon tail overhead
Indra, someone take my photo
Before I go total gung-ho

Pig

Red decked. In walked the pig
Stood like a rotund bigwig
He said, ‘Where’s the shindig?’
Looked about nearly wearing a grin
For he knew not where to begin,
He’d just followed the year in.

Onam in Penang

Onam

‘What is Onam?’ a Chinese friend asked me.

Onam, a festival celebrated by people who come from Kerala, a state south west of India. People who come from Kerala are called Malayalees or Keralites, and their native language is Malayalam.

This Hindu festival celebrated by Malayalees falls between August and early September on a waning moon. The ten-day celebration takes place in the month of Chingam of the Malayalee calendar. A prehistoric harvest festival but it is also steeped in folklore, celebrated to mark the mythical homecoming of King Mahabali. He is revered for his wise ruling of Kerala, a time that brought much peace and wealth to the country, a golden era.

Kerala — the long turquoise strip on the southwest coast of India — is known as ‘God’s Own Country’.

Onam observed by Malayalees whether the community is large or just a small cluster in some remote part of the world. The festival has religious origins but is celebrated by Hindus, Christians, Muslims and by Malayalees who practice other religions.

My clearest memory of this celebration comes from the age of ten when my family lived in Penang. My parents observed first nine days on a minor scale. Days before the tenth day preparations started. Servants rushed about endlessly, it seemed, cleaning the home, changing upholstery and curtains and all things that could be changed to new, or washed, cleaned and polished. Silver shone, brass became gold. Our small family altar filled with flowers and offerings. In the very early hours of day a special feast, vegetarian feast, was prepared for family and hordes of friends of different nationalities who would visit us. People of Penang in those days were very cosmopolitan.

We children stayed up late to the constant mantra ‘time for bed’ from every adult in the household. Finally and reluctantly, we went to bed and slept fitfully, dreaming of new clothes, usually pretty flashy, and new shoes and all the good food, though I do not remember ever being short of food at that time.

We were up early to see the home decorated and warm and lit up with many lamps, flowers everywhere. Scent of joss sticks and incense filled the air and each time the kitchen door was flung open the smell of delicious food. A carpet of fresh flowers lay out the front door welcoming the day. New mango leaves were strung up auspiciously above the front door.

The only painful thing I remember is the cold shower we had to take at dawn before we could don our new clothes. Some of the older girls received gold jewellery too. Wait, sorry no food yet. We had to pray first at the home altar. Papa and Mama would bless us and thank ‘the gods’ for all good things bestowed on us while we could only think of food and fun and games that awaited us. We speedily and fervently mouthed our prayers, and I, ‘bless mama, bless papa, make them buy me a new bicycle soon and I want a camera, and I want a new pen, what else, oh yes …’ was my prayer.

Now that I am grown up, well almost, and an elderly adult in Hong Kong I go with the flow, celebrate all that comes my way. It was Eid a couple of weeks ago. After Onam we are into mid Autumn Festival. This is a full harvest moon Chinese festival that falls on 12 Sept in 2011. It is the one I love best in Hong Kong. Homes, parks, public venues and shops are decorated with colourful and interesting lanterns and children walk about carrying them too. Come evening streams of lit lanterns float like fire flies as people make their way to the beaches and hills and mountaintops to view the full moon. We also get to eat tons of Moon-cake, once a year treat.

And then along will come a frenetic Christmas to round off the year.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

A very happy Vishu

From a small village in Hong Kong comes a powerful message
Be Happy

Garden Ganesha

A very happy Hindu New Year to all my friends.

Imprint 10

HK Women in Publishing

Launch of 10th edition of IMPRINT coincided with the 21st birthday of Hong Kong Women in Publishing. On 14 March 2011 the event was held in Bert’s Bar of the Foreign Correspondence Club, a successful celebration and a perfect setting for an artistic group of women. The Imprint, an impressive annual journal, showcases members’ works of fiction and non-fiction, poetry, art and photography and carries an impressive members’ directory.

A year of hard work behind the scenes. Dedicated general and Imprint special committee.

An informative introduction by the chair Jennifer Eagleton

A long time friend and admirer of Wips, the hilarious Mr Nury Vittachi gave the keynote speech that set the tone for a wild and happy night of partying.

Congratulations

Egypt, shades of Tiananmen

Egypt, shades of Tiananmen

It is time to recognize Arab countries have entered a new era. People power is sweeping across the Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. They have all suffered the same fate with potent rulers paying partial attention to their countries’ fate.

Dictators have stayed in power, some over 40 years. An autocrat has ruled Egypt for 30 years, a country with a population of over 80 million. Lack of political freedom; controls and constrictions, abuses and torture abound.

Excessive greed of the rulers, and their corrupt government’s inability to tackle economic problems has escalated this situation caused utter chaos, placed the citizens in fear and poverty; brought on inflation, food and fuel shortages, rising prices and unemployment.

The Egyptian authorities may crush the movement for democracy. Rallies and protests might even be suppressed for a time with the U.S.-funded military tanks in a bloodbath. They may block out all communications, shut down satellites, block the Internet and mobile phones, place curfews but as we have seen the movement is only snowballing. It’s time to recognize the unity of the people. With incredible bravery and determination the protesters keep coming.

The Egyptian people are not asking their government to reform. They are not asking Mubarak to step down or his government be dissolved with him forming a new one. They want Mubarak and his government out, gone. They are demanding an end to the entire autocratic, repressive regime they have endured for even longer than Mubarak’s rule 30-year rule. They want democracy not just a reform of the current government with new promises.

Western governments have wished, over a period of time, for gradual political reform fearing breakdown of stability in the region. Too late now, reform has been too slow coming, stability broken. Much damage been caused by the last Bush administration with its erroneous foreign policy that viewed solution with wars and military spending bringing about and escalating hatred and terrorism from the Muslim extremists.

Now the world must wait and see how the vacuum will be filled and what extremism, if any, will arise.