New Year, New Beginning! Happy 2011!

It is almost natural for everyone to reflect on the finishing calendar year, no matter what culture one comes from and whether one celebrates it on a different date of the year. People look back and think of their personal and professional goals and how successful they were achieving them throughout the year. The New Year is a chance to work on those failed attempts and set up new goals, sort of like a New Beginning! We begin with a clean slot again what gives us hope that this time we might be more efficient and proactive, as we start from the scratch with new energy and motivation.

We are in Singapore for more 6 months now and our plans and goals shifted and took a new direction. This is not an excuse, don’t get me wrong, we just had to re-evaluate things and find new goals after moving… After all we are on the other side of the world, in a multi-cultural country where people think differently and again, we are in a minority… What stroke me that in Singapore there is a mix of various New Year beliefs and customs, traditions that come from entirely different Asian countries but they clashed together in this multi-cultural place and the boundaries between them seem a little blur to me. Some of the New Year’s traditions are similar in many countries, but there are few that are specific to a particular geography…

In Japan they have a whole week national holiday to celebrate the New Year! It is one of the major events in Japan. People start cleaning their houses many days before the festival as they believe it to be the best way to get rid off all the dirt of last year. Talking about starting with a clean slot, right? On a New Year’s Eve, people offer prayers at midnight; it is considered highly auspicious to listen to the chimes of a Temple bell. According to the Japanese religion, sound of the 108 chimes drives away all the sins and gives birth to new life. People of Japan usually eat noodles on New Year's Eve which symbolizes closeness and advance for a prosperous New Year. People celebrate the day with great zest and enthusiasm. It is time to be spent with the loved ones. Japanese carry forward celebrations up to January 3rd. They wear religious Kimono dress and visit shrines to pray for longevity and good health.

In Korea people also clean their houses and decorate houses with colorful lights. On the New Year’s Eve people clean their houses. In the evening, Koreans take a bath with hot water and put on new clothes, as a symbol of preparing for the New Beginning. As per the Korean belief, no body should sleep on that night otherwise the eyebrows would turn white. Lights of every room and kitchen are kept on all night. This is a special way to welcome the New Year with brightness and open eyes. Better not go to Korea for New Year’s without good all-night-party-plan, although my eyebrows are already quite fair, so I have no reason to worry!

Thai New Year, also called as Songkran, is celebrated for three days from April 13 to April 15 every year on the Gregorian Calendar. Songkran falls on the hottest time of the year in Thailand. It comes from Sanskrit and means 'a move or change'. The date of Thai New Year was set according to the astrological calculations. Traditions play a very vital role in presenting a true picture of New Year celebrations in Thailand. Traditional activities are performed with serious dedication by the people of Thailand. A most common tradition of throwing water over one another is performed with fun by the people. It is conceived to bring good rains all year ahead. Thais also clean their houses thoroughly and do general preparations for the New Year celebrations. They dress up in new attires to welcome the New Year in a fresh manner. As a part of the New Years celebrations, people visit monasteries and shrines to offer prayers and gifts like rice, fruits, sweets and food for the monks. Following this is the custom to release birds from the cages or fish from the bowls. This is believed to bring good luck for the members of the family. Songkran celebrations are incomplete unless water is thrown on each other. People roam the streets with buckets of water and children play with water guns to drench people. Water is thrown to get rid off all the bad deeds and give a fresh welcome to the New Year. This reminds me of Polish ‘Dyngus Day’ which is a tradition of water throwing on Easter Monday; every person at certain part of their life in Poland got all wet for the Dyngus Day, after all we need to cultivate the traditions, right?

Cambodian New Year is celebrated for three days. According to the Gregorian Calendar, it falls on April 13th or 14th. New Year in Cambodia represents the end of the harvesting season. Everyday people visit temples to get blessings from monks and priests. People of Cambodia follow a tradition to sprinkle holy water on each others faces in the morning, on the chest at noon and on the feet in the evening. New Year in Cambodia is celebrated by performing various rituals and playing number of games. The three day New Year celebration include the following traditions: The first day of the New Year is called Moha Sangkran. It is believed that on this day God's angels come to earth to take care of its creation. To welcome these holy angels, people clean and light up their houses. Members of the family place an idol of Lord Buddha on an altar with flowers, candles, incense sticks, a bowl of scented water, eatables, drinks and shaped out banana leaves. On the second day of the New Year celebrations, people offer charity and alms to the poor. It is also considered good to present gifts to family members and relatives. On the third day of New Year celebrations people wash all the idols of Lord Buddha with scented water. It is said this ensures good rains all year long. Children pay respect to their elders by washing their feet and get blessings in return.

New Year celebration is a grand event of China. New Year festivities last for one month in China. Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival. It begins from the middle of the last month of the year and ends up in the first month of the New Year. Chinese New Year falls on a different date every year; in 2011 it starts on 3rd February. Lot of excitement can be seen in the last 15 days of New Year celebrations. Every day has a special importance to it. Chinese ritualize and celebrate each day in a customary manner, on specific days they offer prayers to their ancestors and gods, visit families, prepare sumptuous meals and ask for health and prosperity in the new upcoming year. To prepare for the New Year, Chinese clean their houses, repay any money they owe, get their hair cut, and buy new clothes. They also light up their houses and adorn it with signs of peace and luck. They use red color in all their decorations which is very considered auspicious.

In Singapore the calendar New Year is celebrated as well as the Lunar Chinese New Year. Hey, they get to party twice for the same occasion! People clean and decorate their houses with Chinese New Year’s ornaments in the last few days on the calendar New Year and they keep them until the Chinese New Year’s celebrations. On 31st December Singaporean families gather for a festive dinner, exchange small gifts and wait for the midnight countdown. In Singapore people also have a tradition of buying new clothes, new bed sheets; it’s an occasion to buy new kitchen appliances or furniture. These also symbolize new beginning, fresh new start. Shopping is one of the most popular retail-intensive countries in Asia, shopping malls are open every day and long hours which created a heavy shopping habit among Singaporeans. Shopping malls are usually among popular entertainment spots, which make every day look busy regardless of the day of the week or period of the year. Young Singaporeans meet their friends, cook together and await the magical midnight. In the commercial centre of Singapore there is massive fireworks display, as there is a ban on individual use of firecrackers; these were banned in 1972 after an explosion had killed several people. From 2003 the government allowed firecrackers back again during festive season but only under controlled assistance of the Singapore Armed Forces. Firecrackers are not allowed to be commercially sold, so we will be only able to see the ‘official fireworks’ in the Singapore Central District… The island of Singapore and especially the most popular spots still shine with sparkly Christmas decors now, but they will be taken down shortly after the calendar New Year and replaced with the Chinese New Year red ornaments.

What our New Year Eve will be like? It’s going to be a mix of our European customs, habits and food, but it an entirely new context. The Chinese New Year decorations are already up in our place, the food starts to smell nice; we are just awaiting our multi-cultural Singapore guests! We will have some nice home made food, Desperados, French cider, cheese and crepes; we will drink champagne and eat 12 grapes at midnight the Spanish style…

And what about those New Years resolutions? Well, I find it easy to come up with those, but as many of you, I am not great sticking up to my guns… So as this blog is a good way for me to officially declare my commitment, these are few changes I would like to see happening in my life next year:

I will eat healthy food
I will dance more than this year (including social dancing)
I will go out more with my friends, and my girlfriends!
I will learn more about fascinating Asian religious and cultural customs
I will start learning Mandarin
I will be a good role model for kids (in my volunteer work)
I will travel more than this year
I will update my blog more often… I promise!

I will update you on my progress on a regular basis, just to keep myself on my feet! And if any of you sees me doing the opposite, please kick my a**, I won’t hold it against you! So what about you, what are your New Year’s Resolutions? If there are any similarities between our lists, let me know, we could help each other out!

Well, will go back to cleaning our place and cooking, to cultivate the Asian New Year preparation rituals… I wish you joy, love and motivation to follow your dreams and achieve your goals, have a successful 2011 dear friends! See you next year!!!