HK festivities: Try your luck at a wishing tree
The Hong Kong Tourism Board invited The Jakarta Post reporter Hendarsyah Tarmizi from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 to witness the Chinese New Year celebrations in Hong Kong. Below is an article about the festivities held during the visit.
Many people in Hong Kong might go to a fortune-teller or a soothsayer if they want to know their future. Some others go to a wishing tree to cast a wish and to see if their wish will come true.
Visiting a wishing tree has become a customary part of the rituals usually observed during the Chinese New Year festivities. This custom is not so difficult. It can sometimes be fun, too. What visitors need to do, is to write a wish on a paper tied to an orange, and then throw it into the branches of the wishing tree. It is said that if the wish catches in one of the branches, it will come true.
The Wishing Tree in Lam Tsuen in the New Territories is one of the most popular wishing trees in Hong Kong. During this year's Chinese New Year celebration, the wishing tree attracted young and old visitors alike from Hong Kong and from overseas, particularly from mainland China.
When visiting this tree, visitors do not have to worry about bringing an orange and colorful paper of their own to write down their wish. With HK$10 (about Rp 12,000), a visitor can buy the paper already tied to an orange from vendors near the tree. If visitors don't know how to prepare the wishing paper, these vendors will also volunteer assistance. The wishes must be simple, such as wanting to have a better job, a beautiful girlfriend or a nice boyfriend, or even a happier family life.
"Concentrate, hold the orange and the paper firmly together, and throw it into the tree," advised a vendor. "If the orange and the paper catches onto a branch of the tree in only one throw, your wish will be fulfilled," he added.
It seems easy to get the orange caught on a branch, but many visitors failed to make it even after several tries. "My wishes might be too heavy," a visitor admitted after trying -- and failing -- several times.
The activities often drew laughs from other visitors when the orange and the wishing paper thrown landed on the heads of other visitors instead.
Visiting a wishing tree is only part of many cultural events and performances of the Lunar New Year celebrations. Unlike the Western New Year, the Lunar New Year does not fall at the same time every year. As its name implies, it is dictated by the cycle of the moon, and begins on the first day of the new moon after the sun enters Aquarius. This always falls between January 21 and February 19.
The first three days of the Lunar New Year, the most important Chinese festivals of the year, are public holidays in Hong Kong, where tradition dictates how each day is spent.
The Chinese New Year, which was celebrated on Feb. 1 this year, is a time for making a fresh start to welcome spring. This joyful atmosphere could be felt weeks before the actual festivities began, as people started to flock to markets to buy food for special dishes or new clothes for the new year.
Just like the Islamic Idul Fitri celebrations in Indonesia, Chinese New Year is a time for family reunions. The days before the Lunar New Year are extremely busy for Hong Kong's transportation operators, as sons and daughters return from overseas to spend the festival at home. Some will travel halfway around the world, while others only need to make a short trip from Hong Kong's urban areas to their home villages in the New Territories.
The whole family, including its youngest members, will stay up past midnight to welcome the New Year together. It is believed that children who stay up to greet the New Year will be blessed with a long life. In some families, the children are given Lai see envpelove, which is called Ang pau in Indonesia, by their elders on this night. Lai see are a kind of New Year's gift, traditionally given in red envelopes decorated with an auspicious Chinese character in gold.
Certain rules govern the giving of Lai see. An elder gives to the young, the married to the unmarried. A boss will often give Lai see to employees regardless of age and status. The giving of Lai see is quite common and can even be seen in the street.
"I have 20 Lai see enevelopes in my pockets. Ten Lai seeenvelopes containing HK$10 notes in my left pocket, and another ten containing HK$20 notes in my right pocket," said Willy Fung, a tour coordinator at Southsea Tours Ltd.
He said that the HK$10 Lai see will be given to children, and the HK$20 Lai see to colleagues or tour bus drivers at his company.
Combining 5,000 years of Chinese culture and over 150 years of colonial history, Hong Kong possesses its own unique, enticing character. This uniqueness has turned the city into one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Its Lunar New Year celebrations are considered one of the best.
Clara Chong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, said that tourist attractions specially designed for the Lunar New Year celebration have been improved from time to time to accommodate the needs of both local and overseas visitors.
"We are preparing everything possible to make Hong Kong into the Chinese New Year celebration center of the world," she said.
During this year's celebrations, a number of attractions were offered, including the Flower Market, the Chinese New Year Parade, a multi-million fireworks display, and pilgrimages to famous temples.
Besides festive New Year's foods, flowers are always on the Chinese New Year shopping list. A flower market, which opens only for a few days at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, attracted thousands of people.
Different kinds of beautiful blooms, delicate potted plants and huge flowering trees which symbolize good fortune were sold at the market. Prices ranged from HK$80 (about Rp 100,000) for a small, potted citrus plant, to as high as HK$1,200 for huge flowering trees.
It is said that peach blossoms bring romance, whereas tangerines with leaves intact help ensure long-lasting relationships and "fruitful" marriages. Many people also believe that the more flowers they buy, the brighter their year will be.
Meanwhile, the International Chinese New Year Parade marched along the harbor, delighting viewers with a variety of performances and colorful floats. The parade is not only an important event in Hong Kong, but is also a major international tourist attraction, sponsored by Cathay Pacific for the last five years. This year's parade began on Feb. 1, along the two- kilometer harbor front route from Admiralty to Wan Chai.
The participants included 11 local floats and 38 performance groups from around the world, including the Carnival Roadshow Company of the United Kingdom, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Queensland Reds' Cheerleaders of Australia and the Yes Brazil dancing group.
The most stunning performance during the festivities might have been the Fireworks Display, which lit up the sky above Victoria Harbour from eight o'clock in the evening on Sunday, Feb. 2. The 23-minute show was divided into eight scenes, displaying 30,000 fireworks shot out from a barge anchored offshore, accompanied by four pontoons each.
The HK$4 million fireworks display, which attracted over 500,000 people, stunned visitors when it displayed patterns of "Smiling Faces" and the Chinese lucky number "8"
The main festivities held for the Lunar New Year might be over, but the Kung hei fat choy, or "wishing you success and prosperity", greeting will still be heard until the celebrations end on the 15th day of the New Year as dictated by tradition, with the launch of the Yuen Siu, or Spring Lanterns.