If someone tells me 'Happy Valentine's Day!', I tell them not to say bad words..
'I prefer "Happy Chinese New Year" my friend', I'd reply. Can't blame me, it's the time of the year when lonely hearts club members brood at the mere thought, and go on throughout the day contented (or pretending to be) by celebrating with friends, with family, or alone. As for me, I have work. I have the perfect alibi!
Coincidentally, February 14 of 2010 celebrates both V-Day and the coming of the Chinese Year of the Steel Dragon. Also coincidentally, both prefer the color red as the traditional motif, so the whole town's going to be painted with the color of blood and gore 2 times than usual.
V-Day is celebrated every 14th of February to commemorate the feast of Saint Valentine, a Christian martyr priest who was executed by then Roman emperor Claudius II. He secretly wed lovers in the Christian tradition, which was taboo at the then-Roman pagan society (or so the story goes).
Unlike the usual New Year celebrated on the first day of the Gregorian calendar (that's January 1), the Chinese folks believe that the New Year starts at the first new moon of the year, which is always somewhere around the month of February (but sometimes could be as early as the last week of January).
I was born on the Year of the Ox, and Chinese astrology predicts that I have good luck coming up within the Tiger's Year (uh, or so a friend of mine tells me). So I don't need to buy bad-luck-warding charms and other Chinese gewgaws that sprout like mushrooms at the malls. Maybe an ang pao (Chinese red envelope) will do. My mother, though we don't have Chinese blood in the family, believes in the Chinese tradition of new year. Each Chinese New Year, she gives us siblings ang paos with money inside with three number 8's, the Chinese lucky number, in the money's serial code (which supposedly gives us good luck, especially with financial matters, yay!). She even added to the list of Deadly Sins the spending of our ang pao money.
She also doesn't let us bathe during the day (maybe because it peels off good luck that sticks to your skin?). She buys us tikoy (traditional Chinese pudding), which she then fries with beaten egg and forces us to eat it for good luck's sake. And she never fails to buy the latest annual copy of a Chinese Feng Shui mag for new trends in interior arrangement (I actually think my mother can handle a decent Feng Shui expert as a sideline).
So what did I do this Valentine-Chinese New Year COMBO Day? I went to Southbound Computer Shop today to buy myself a new USB mouse (my old one broke down on me this morning). I bought my groceries in SM Supermarket, strolled to some Chinese New Year displays and V-day flower stalls. I found a very unusual sight -- tulips in pots! I had the urge to buy one pot for myself and grow some at home, but at the price of 800 bucks, I quickly changed my mind. I did not inherit my mother's green thumb, so buying the plant is a risk I wouldn't take (can't even grow a decent sprout of parsley, pfftt!).
I also saw Chinese dancing dragons. They performed traditional dragon dances to each store inside the mall to ward-off bad luck. In return, the stores give them a little sum for their effort of wiggling their asses and heads like crazy.
Deciding to treat myself for V-day, I bought a heart-shaped chocolate brownie cake from Brownies Unlimited for 168 bucks, and then went home.
I ate almost have of the cake by myself (which is not surprising, considering my voracious appetite), and then off to work. So basically, I spent my V-Day and Chinese New Year mostly working my ass off.
Kung Hei Fat Choi everyone! And Happy Heart's Day!
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