Xin Nian Kuai Le is Mandarin for Happy New Year.
Xin Nian is New Year. Xin is new and Nian is year.
Kuai Le is happiness, joy, pleasure, delight, or rejoicings.
The most common Chinese ways of saying Happy New Year are Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin) and Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese). Even though the pronunciations are a little different, both are written the same way.
Gong Xi is congratulations or respectfully wishing one joy.
Fa Cai is to become rich or to make money.
Thus, Gong Xi Fa Cai means wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year.
And so endth the lesson for today. :-)
We went to CNY celebrations two weekends in a row. First we went to the local recreation centre for a citywide celebration. It wasn't very busy. I think because it was very cold outside and also the local Chinese school was having their CNY celebration on the same day. One of Maeve's preschool friends and her mom joined us. The girls had a hoot walking around holding hands. They got to see a martial arts demonstration, but it didn't hold their attention for very long. We missed the dancing because I didn't want Maeve to skip her nap.
This past weekend the local play group for kids adopted from China held another celebration. This one went from 3 until 8:30 and Maeve was completely wiped by the end of it. We did crafts, had a raffle, ate a great Canadian-Chinese meal, watched two different dance groups (little girls) and saw a great martial arts demonstration complete with Lion Dance. I think Maeve's favourite thing was playing ring around the roses with her friends while we waited for supper.
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Maeve checks out her Chinese Princess coat in the mirror..JPG)
That's her orphanage assigned name on the scroll behind her "Yu Cai Ling".JPG)
Here's Maeve looking a little unsure at the Bamboo Bunch NY party..JPG)
These Lions is what she was unsure about..JPG)
No smiles for the camera after the scary Lions!.JPG)
We bought this coat in Hong Kong on the way to meet Maeve. It just fits her now. Good thing I didn't forget about it like some of the other stuff I've bought for her!
5 comments:
Thanks for the lesson, Miss Kath! I'll have to keep this on file somewhere because I never know which saying to use.
Maeve certainly does look like a princess in her beautiful coat. I know I've said this before but she looks so grownup now and gets more beautiful all the time. Haven't the past two years flown by?
It's nice to know I'm not the only one to forget about stuff I've bought for Bryn til she's too big to wear it! :)
Oh, you guys all look so beautiful!! I love that coat you bought for Maeve. Adorable.
Thanks for the mini-lesson to start, Kath. You are my go-to gal for this stuff. Please feel free to enlighten us anytime!!
Happy New Year to you all. May the year of the Ox bring you many blessings :)
Great New Year's celebrations!
You all look so wonderful! That coat is really gorgeous. I may have to look for one for Claire when we're in Hong Kong!
All the best,
Monica
My favorite is the priceless pic of Maeve looking at herself in the mirror, and Pat chuckling behind her! that is truly lovely!
love to all
c,d,and a!!
we miss you guys so much, kisses to my maeveling
What a beautiful coat! I love it.
Thanks for the explanation at the start, Kath. I've been teaching my students about Chinese New Year and this will come in very handy.
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