Category: Culture

Lunar New Year

Tomorrow (Monday) is New Year’s Eve, one of the most important dates in the Chinese calendar, the re-union dinner when all the family MUST be home. Today, Sunday, gave people a little time to prepare for tomorrow.

Another load of peachtree branches made its way into Phnom Penh this morning.
A good number of customers seeking peachtree branches visited this sidewalk vendor.
This pharmacy took a minimalist approach to decoration,
just a couple pots of chrysanthemums.
This is an office building soon to open after renovation (it used to be a KFC outlet) and the owner seems to want to impress the neighbors with lots of chrysanthemums.
This French colonial building wants to light up the neighborhood with Chinese lanterns.

Lunar New Year

Another essential element for the proper celebration of the Lunar New Year is chrysanthemums. And they are out in full force on the streets now, ready to decorate every house with any Chinese heritage.

The chrysanthemums come into town on a wagon pulled by a motorcycle.
Then they are displayed for sale on streets and sidewalks
and wherever a vendor can set up shop.
This woman has her flowers but also the traditional peach tree branches
which are just starting to bud.

Lunar New Year

More signs of the approaching lunar new year are appearing. Today I passed a woman on the street who was washing traditional Chinese figures and symbols used to celebrate the New Year. They were probably stored away in a box all year and very dusty.

After washing the figures, the woman dried each one with a yellow towel. As I saw her handling them, I was wondering if she has a favorite figure just like some of us had favorite Christmas tree ornaments that we would look forward to displaying each year.

Lunar New Year

Just a little over a month ago, local shops were displaying red Santa Claus suits. They are one way a culture that knows nothing about Jesus and Christmas can participate in the Christmas merriment through their children.

Now those shops are selling red suits again, but this time in preparation for the Lunar New Year. Most people in North America and Europe speak of the Chinese New Year but Lunar New Year is a more appropriate and inclusive label because all the chopsticks countries (Korea, Japan, Vietnam, etc.) celebrate the Lunar New Year, not just China.

Fainting

Faintings by factory workers are a regular occurrence here. They do all kinds of tests, improve ventilation, advise the workers to eat better, get more sleep, whatever, but I don’t think that’s going to change a thing. For whatever reason, it’s a cultural phenomenon with its own expectations. One young woman faints for some reason–or maybe just suggests that she feels funny or something–and that is the trigger, giving permission for everyone else to “faint” too. There’s probably no problem. It’s just what you’re supposed to do. I suspect the best response is to have a section of clean factory floor and just lay them side by side until they decide they’ve been on the floor long enough and them let them go back to work. Taking them to clinics, etc., probably doesn’t help and just perpetuates the problem.