CNY in Melaka
Feb 3rd, 2007 by Tian
Chinese New Year in my hometown Melaka is always joyous and lively. In the recent years, Jonker Street has been the center of Chinese festive events.
For the celebration of Chinese New Year, the area adjacent to Jonker Street has been decorated with arcs, lanterns, lights, and so on. Every year this was a joint effort by the Chinese community organizations. Normally MCA dominates the event.
The launching of the decoration is known as “Turning on the Lights Ceremony”. The event was organized on the evening of 2 February (Friday). Leaders of Chinese community including various political parties were invited to the stage to collectively ‘turn on’ the lights of lantern and arc.
This year the organizing committee decided to invite leaders of both ruling and oppsotion parties. Chinese leaders from all parties—MCA, DAP and KeADILan—were invited to be the guests of honour in the launching.
After the ceremony, I visited the Hainan Association which was nearby. The Association was organizing a calligraphy exhibition. Calligraphy has a special significance during New Year. The exercise is known as “Hui Chun” (挥春): phrases of good luck written on red paper and pinned on the wall or door.
There I met an old friend from high school who was one of the organizers. He insisted that I show off my calligraphic skill. In fact I am not good at the art, but accepted the challenge.
It has been a long time since I last held a calligraphic brush. I was quite nervous being watched in public. On the red paper, I wrote “Wan Xiang Geng Xin” (万象更新) or “renew everything”, meaning: change!!
The product was not great, but I hope the message was delivered.