Happy 40th Earth Day

HAPPY EARTH DAY

The Lantern Festival Lights Up

Today is the Lantern Festival!

It's a lot of merrymaking and fun, and fireworks have already been set off since the night before.

It is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which differs in its actual date each year, and it is the last day of the Lunar New Year festivities.

Fireworks, lanterns, and parades of elaborately shaped creations light up the entire night in asian cultures. 

Children hold paper lanterns that are often shaped like the zodiac animal for the year, and families eat a [tang yuan] that is made a little differently than the kind from the Winter Solstice, mostly with regional adaptations.

Lunar New Year

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone~

It is the Year of the Tiger in the Mandarin Zodiac this year:


It does appear that 2010 will be a fierce year for Taiwan.
Strangely, the economy is reporting higher earnings, while the homelessness rate is tragically breaking the nation's records.  It might be a mightily happy Lunar New Year for some, a time for shopping and carousing, and perhaps for a lot of government workers especially; but when will the Government spend to strengthen public health and welfare, to lessen the unemployment rate?  Really, help the economy in a bigger way than reduced-prices on already OVER priced items, and help the citizens in a bigger way than the recently proposed bans on the sale of charcoal being used in suicide attempts around the northern cities.

God Bless.

New Year, New Decade, More Posts

~ Wishing Everyone A Happy New Year!

Thanks to all the readers and passersby on these happy InternetS~
I'll keep doing what I do through the happy next DecadeS.

HAPPY 2010!

Christmas Eve 平安夜

It'll be Christmas Eve today. Happiest Christmas to everyone!

Being in Taiwan makes me nostalgic for when the shops were decorated with ribbons and bows and all December was a countdown to the night of "Santa Clause" (a dubious character at best, but let that slide for now).

Still, the true meaning of Christmas needs no decoration and is with us wherever we go. It warms the heart, and maybe being in a place where my favourite holiday is a foreign import makes the Christmas message strangely more accessible, more prominent.

At least there isn't any eco-unfriendly wrapping paper getting in the way.

It's lovely Christmas Island for us.

Introducing 冬至, the Winter Solstice

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year; it is followed by a lengthening of the days and shortening of the nights.

In Taiwan it is a big winter holiday for family gatherings. Age is marked by how many solstices a person has celebrated.
The tradition includes eating "tang yuan" 湯圓- colourful chewy spheres made from rice that is glutinous, meaning it'll stick together and become a little ball that is often made pink or white.

冬至 Pictures, from Kinmen Island (a Taiwanese province and military base west of Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait).


Also tonight, a new drama starts on FTV in high definition, Night Market Life.
Taiwan's Night Markets are really spectacular- there's a lot of regional foods, shopping, and even cell phone repair- and this series is about the people who make a living there.