Chinese New Year: Year of the Fire Rooster

A few days late of posting the Lunar New Year, my dad paid homage to his ancestors on January 28, 2017. This is the year of the Fire Rooster, it’s the 10th year of the zodiac and is also symbolic of hard work and diligence.

This year my dad ordered the chicken and duck from Bo’s farm and Bo deep fried them. This has to be Bo’s proudest moment to have his farm animals as part of the ceremony.

My grandfather was Chinese and passed away before I was born. I’m glad that my dad still carried the tradition and we will certainly pass this down to the younger generations.

Best Year for:  Dragons, Goats
Money Year for:  Snakes, Oxen & Monkeys
Good Year for: Rats, Horses
Mixed Year for:  Roosters, Tigers
Challenging Year for:  Rabbits, Dogs, Pigs

I found some interesting reading here of what is expected for the year.

Chinese New Year: Year of the Horse

This year’s Chinese Lantern Festival was on February 14, 2014, it fell right on Valentine’s day. I could only imagine what it would feel like to celebrate Chinese New Year in China, Thailand, or even in Laos. Like every year, we celebrated Chinese New Year at my dad’s house on February 1st.

My dad is half Chinese, so paying homage to our ancestors on Chinese New Year is our family tradition as long as I could remember.  This year I missed photographing the homage feast due to my busy schedule and also the treacherous road condition from the snow still lingering on January 30th.

The year of the horse is a year of optimistic, and I truly believe that success will come to those that are willing to work hard.

Horse year is a great year for optimism

This is an interesting read from 2014chineseastrology.com. As I’m reading the list below, I can’t help but thinking that it’s so true for many people that I know.  Life is not as simple as it used to be, and just because you have connections in the past doesn’t mean that it’s any good this year, you have to earn your keep.

• Rat will be facing challenges as everyone watches Horse stealing the show.
• Ox will need to make adjustments and look for any opportunities to make changes
• Tiger is a friend to Horse and can have a really good year as long as s/he doesn’t take too long to decide
• Rabbit may have more opportunities that s/he knows what to do with, speed will be important
• Dragon can find allies and resources to help with a big project
• Snake finally gets to see some results from all his/her hard work this year
• Horse gets to plant seeds as s/he starts a new 12 year cycle. This will be a year filled with both work and play.
• Ram needs to get things cleared away for his/her special year in 2015
• Monkey likes this new Horse energy and is ready to capitalize on it
• Rooster can handle whatever is thrown at him/her which this year includes lots of opportunities
• Dog finally gets a happy year after several tough ones, wishes are going to come true
• Pig will have to make changes this year or s/he will feel unsettled and cranky

We give Lai see or red envelopes with money inside to the girls on Chinese New Year, and they are typically left unsigned.

The girls love receiving Lai see money on Chinese New Year.

Happy Chinese New Year to all. I wish you much happiness and prosperity this year, Kung Hei Fat Choy.

The 2013 Year of the Snake

Happy Chinese New Year.  According to the prediction, the 2013 year of Snake is meant for steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve what you set out to create. source. I’m just hoping for a good year. My dad started his tradition of paying homage to our ancestors on Saturday, Chinese New Year’s Eve.

The table was set for two, my grandfather and grandmother both passed away before we were born.

The noodle dish symbolizes longevity.

The chicken symbolizes completeness, it is important that it’s head, tail and feet are intact.

It’s odd to see red roses in the vase. My choice would be white or yellow but I guess it’s easier to find red roses during this time of the year.

This picture was taken from a wallet size image.  My sister took it to a Photo Place in Chinatown New York over 25 years ago to have it enlarged.  The owner told her that he had to take a picture of the image, then enlarged it.  It turned out pretty good.

My uncle wanted a photo of his dad, I cropped the above image, and repaired what I could.

We had a Chinese New Year lunch and diner at my dad’s house on Saturday.

The girls were happy to receive Lai See money, Lee got $140.00

My dad decorated his house for Chinese New Year by the way.  I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year.