DOING MY BIT TO PROMOTE CHINESE CULTURE

 The first themed exhibition for my school library for 2011 was on Chinese New Year.  You can see the centre piece of the exhibition in the photo above.  Information about the Lunar New Year was also placed on the tables for the students and teachers to read.  This was what little I could do to help promote the Chinese culture.
As yesterday was the fifteenth day of the New Year and also the last, we had a closing ceremony which was attended by the school principal, the resource centre teachers, the computer technician and the librarians.  During the ceremony, I shared some titbits about Chap Goh Meh with my colleagues and students.  I told them that Chap Goh Meh did not have any religious significance.  It actually meant the Fifteenth Night in the Hokkien dialect.  The act of throwing mandarin oranges was actually activity for the ladies to be seen by the gentlemen of olden days.  If any of the ladies caught the eyes of the men, then they would enlist the help of matchmakers to continue the process of acquiring a wife.  The fifteenth day also marked the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations.  After that, the Chinese will start working hard to earn their keep and make their fortune after all the prayers and rituals they went through for good luck, good health and plenty of wealth.
After the closing ceremony, I treated all those who were present to a meal of Nasi Tomato, Ayam Masak Merah and other Chinese New Year titbits and snacks.