COLOURFULWORLD

Wednesday 28 February 2018

Year of the Dog Festivities

On the 16th of February Chinese New Year was celebrated with festivities taking place a couple of weeks on either side of this date.
It's the Year of the Dog, one of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, and people born in 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982 and 1994 and 2006 were born under this sign.

In Australia there is a high percentage of Chinese immigrants, so these special dates are celebrated in all the capitals. On Sunday 25th of February my local shopping centre - Westfield Carousel, presented the traditional Lion Dance performed by the Yaolin Kung Fu Association to celebrate the New Year.





They started at one end of the shopping and walked until the other end with some people following them. It started at 11am just when the shopping opened which meant there weren't that many people there yet.


They spread some mandarins on the floor which the "lions" would eventually "eat".

  One of the leaders also handed out small red envelopes to those that wanted to give some money and they the lions would come and "swallow" the envelope.
Half an hour later the dance was finished, they got an ovation and walked back to the entrance where they had arrived.

I have to say that I preferred last year's show which was more centred on the fabulous drum players and less lion dancing. Those drummers were fantastic!








Even the displays in the shopping aisles had a touch of the red to celebrate the Chinese  New  Year.


* * * * * * * * * * * * 

This tree with the red lanterns was at the Watertown Outlet Centre in Wellington street, Perth, and I took these photos when we went to our Citizenship test on Tuesday 20th, at the Immigration building (which can be seen on the top left photo) which is next to the Outlet shopping.
I'm glad to report that both my husband and I achieved 100%!  
Now we'll have to wait for a letter from our Council to advise when the next Citizenship ceremony will be held and once we get our certificate we will be Australians. We have been told this could take from 2 to 6 months depending on the Councils.

Tree with Chinese lanterns at Watertown Outlet Centre


And this is a photo my husband sent me from Sydney of a huge "Dog" in Circular Quay, one of many statues  located there for Chinese New Year.


30 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks William, wish they had them in other colours too, lol

      Delete
  2. ...we had the same hear in Maui.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Again: Big, big congrats on being officially Australians! Really wonderful!
    Sadly here are no Chinese New Year´s celebrations at all.
    I love especially the tree. What will the collected money be used on?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Iris. Well officially it will only be once we get our certificate, but good to know we're almost there. I presume the money would be to help the kung-fu school. Not many Chinese there to warrant a Chinese festival...

      Delete
  4. Well done on your full marks score!
    Those costumes are fantastic & the lanterns on the trees are great!
    Enjoy your day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well done to the shopping centre for the New Year event. I guess it knows its customers. I read that the largest CNY celebration outside of Asia is in London.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, I had no idea London had a big CNY celebration.

      Delete
  6. I like these celebrations. So much colour, so much fun!! ; )

    ReplyDelete
  7. Para quem está SEMPRE a ver isto já não tem assim tanta piada.
    E o ruído é terrível.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Imagino que sim Pedro. Sim é barulhento, mas como só vejo 1 vez por ano...

      Delete
  8. I really enjoyed you taking us once again to another CNY festival. We have a small Asian community here, but they don't seem to celebrate CNY publicly. I enjoyed the lions, and really liked the red lanterns in the courtyard and umbrellas in the shop.

    Good for you. It won't be long till I can OFFICIALLY call you an Australian!! Happy day, dear.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Australia has a big Asian community I see, the celebration is not so big here. Nice colourful photos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there is a big Asian community here, that's why CNY gets celebrated. Thanks Marianne.

      Delete
  10. Gosto destas festas são cheias de cor e movimento.
    Um abraço e continuação de boa semana.

    Andarilhar
    Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
    O prazer dos livros

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bem descrito Francisco - cor e movimento. Obrigada

      Delete
  11. What fun displays! It's so colorful -- I wish we had more of that here.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dearest Sami,
    Well even if the lions were not the same as last year's performance, you were in a happy mood for it!
    So happy for you both that you managed to pass this important part in becoming a citizen. Hope the wait will not be that long...
    Love your photos as always.
    We ourselves enjoyed a 3-night trip to New Orleans for going back to some things not shown on our bus tour after the cruise in July. I had to act swiftly as our free Delta companion ticket would expire on the 28th.
    Hugs,
    Mariette

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Mariette, lovely that you had the opportunity to return to New Orleans to visit what you missed.

      Delete
  13. Nice to see here Sami. I missed all the celebrations this year. Congratulations on passing your Aussie citizen ship test 100% ☺

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Grace. Always so much going on in Perth no time to see everything...

      Delete
  14. Congratulations Sami!! Although not yet officially Australian it sounds like it's basically done and you can finally relax!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sara. Yes, not long to go now, the most important is done!

      Delete

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment.