Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Jam-packed with lots of people, Binondo welcomed the Chinese New Year with gleefulness last Monday. This is the first time for the Philippines to announce the Spring Festival to be a non-working holiday, so those who are free, curious and want to experience the event (like us) filled the premises of Binondo with festive spirits!
January 23 marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese Zodiac. With this, Dragons will obviously be the star of this celebration.
In some streets before reaching the plaza, there were different dragons and lions doing a traditional dance. This dance is “cai ching”. The lions will approach a store and performs a dance. After the lions’ performance, the dragons will enter inside. The storeowners will give them an “ampao” or a red envelope, as it is believe that it will bring good luck. Once done, the fireworks attached near the store will be ignited and the lions and dragons will dance once more.
Once inside the plaza, many different stalls offered various colorful charms that will bring good luck. There were those humungous to petite dragon figurines, fish ornaments, Chinese hats, crystal accessories, and last but not the least, Tikoy, a Chinese cake every Filipino love.
Tikoy has presented itself with different colors, but other delicacies will not falter behind. There were Hopias (mooncake), siomai, siopao and many Chinese foods that will also crave the people's tummy.
There were also dancers that entertained the crowd. They were using fire as a medium to catch the interest of the people. While the public enjoys the show, some of their members will approach some people, giving an ampao so that they can make a fee/donation for them.
Now that the Chinese New Year is a non-working holiday, Chinese and Chinese-Filipino tenants of Binondo will expect lots of happiness for the following years.
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