Chinese New Year

Kung Hay Fat Choy! I’m wishing you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. Chinese New Year is officially on February 8^th of this year as we ring in the year of the monkey. This past Saturday, Chinatown had its annual Chinese New Year Festival.
There were all kinds of vendors selling a variety of things. Food vendors are my favorite, of course. I had to buy my salty jin dui and bubble drinks. It’s the best time to buy jin dui because they fry it on site, so it’s hot and fresh. There’s the usual plate lunch vendors. For the first time, I saw people selling poi mochi. There were also a ton of people selling Chinese New Year T-​shirts and good luck trinkets. The Unilocal Booth was also there.
The best part was the parade and lion dance. It is said that if you feed the lion money, it will give you good luck and scare away evil spirits for the coming year.

Oh Chinatown! Always a surprise whenever I’m roaming the streets of downtown Honolulu. Randomly walked through Chinatown, because I heard some drums and people clapping. Saw an awesome lion dance show (or was it a dragon?), art galleries, bbq food, and lots of people. It was very crowded today. The lines to get food were very long.

cool place to get your dose of Chinese culture and food. Nice souvenirs too with t-​shirts ornaments and just about anything they can sell.

Chinese New Year celebration year of the monkey 2016! Parade, food booths, live music and crowds of people.
This is an annual event, and it gets crowded fast. So if you plan on coming to one of these, go early if you want parking nearby.

We enjoyed the parade. It was packed to the gills with people so get there early if you want to get a seat along the route! We expected a bit more variety with the parade, but overall it was a lot of fun and something unique that we couldn’t do when we were stationed elsewhere.

What a fun day walking in the parade! It is short starting by Iolani Place, and ends at River and Hotel st. Wonderful crowds line both sides.

Chinese New Year is a lot of fun! I started going a few years ago when I found out my friends perform the lion dance there and at Ala Moana Center. They’re so good! On the poles and everything. Kind of scary to watch when someone falls, but they have gotten better and better over the years… but anyway, back to the festival!
A few things my friends and I look forward to:
–The food! Don’t get me started on jin dui, I love that stuff so much. We also ate at a friend’s restaurant one year. I fell in love with black bean sauce on noodles. Need to get more dim sum next time.
–The lion dance by the Wah Ngai (of course)
–New charms. It’s the year of the dragon this year (my year!) so I was very determined to find the perfect dragon charm, and I succeeded. There’s so many options, you really have to just keep your options open and explore both the plaza and the street festival. I think the ones on the street are cheaper.
And I know you want to know about parking. Parking isn’t that bad actually. You just need to know the right time to go. One year, we tried to go around 6:30pm. Yeah, bad idea! There’s so much traffic. Now we go around 8, and it’s not too bad. Park at the plaza, some people who came early should be trickling out by then.

Kung Hee Fat Choy! (Happy Chinese New Year!)
Chinese new year fall on the lunar moon, so it is never the same every year. The Chinese is big with their celebrations. Growing up in Hawaii all my life, I look forward to participating in the fun every year and as the years pass, my friends come out to also par take in the festivities.
When I was small, I remember the festivities would be big! There were more vendors and more entertainment. And as time moves on, it has been getting smaller. But I am happy to see that tradition has been keeping up. I love the sound of the drums for the lion dances with the gongs. The sound and smell of the fire crackers to scare away the evil spirits. The aroma of the food that fills the air… nothing says tradition like that!
If you’re ever so lucky to experience the fun, take it all in! This only happens once a year.

It’s utterly cool to be here close to this time of year. The streets are just bustling with activity and vendors everywhere are selling Chinese New Year baubles depicting auspicious messages for the coming year (which is the Year of the Dog). The most interesting thing is that everyone comes out to celebrate, NOT just the Chinese. For instance, we saw ‘haole’ and Hawaiians buying Chinese notes with auspicious sayings on them. There were also Japanese and Filipino people eating «gao» (which is «neen go» or sticky New Year cake) or «jai» which is a vegetarian dish commonly eaten during CNY.
Celebrations in Chinatown are plentiful and starts weeks before the actually event. This year, CNY falls on January 29^th but we saw the start of everything to do with Chinese New Year right after the regular New Year ended. Narcissus plants were all over the streets of Chinatown for sale, as were bamboo plants — all lucky symbols of new year. It is said that Narcissus plants will bloom by CNY and everyone in the family will receive good luck. Should your plant not flower, you will have bad luck — which is why I never buy them in case they don’t flower, then I’m up shit’s creek! I never want to chance that.
CNY here feels even more «real» than when I lived in the Bay Area which is seriously saying something. The last few weeks have been a wonderful reminder of my CNYs in Malaysia as a child where the spirit of the traditions and culture permeated all over.