Friday, January 09, 2004

The color at the shopping Mall has start to change...from the green color of the Aidil Fitri...to the purple color of the Christmas tree..at the KLCC...and now to the Red color of the Chinese New Year celebration...This year the Chinese New Year fall on the twenty third and the twenty forth January....Workman are now busy redecorating the Mall with the Red color...A Mall that I visited recently...the Sogo Mall at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman had already change their Christmas decoration and now a huge red Chinese lantern hang majestically in the centre of the Mall...It has turn the whole lobby into a Chinese period decoration...all in red....The same thing is happening at all the other shopping Mall in Kuala Lumpur and for that matter in the rest of the cities and town around the country....It look like that the festive season has not stop...Right from Aidil Fitri in November...and now in late January the Chinese New Year...and then it would be the Aidil Adha...on the first of February...the Moslem Festival after the Haj period...what a celebration for a country...a great multiracial, multireligious country...Where else in the world this sort of celebration happen in total harmony...but Malaysia...a country bless with the great tradition of all the Asian countries....Custom and tradition... has extended beyond the particular race...Take for example of the Chinese tradition of giving Am Pow [package Money] on Chinese New Day...It has now became a national tradition of a sort...The Malay give green package Am Pow on Aidil Figtri...the Chinese Am Pow is Red in color...the Indian has follow suit with another color package...for the Depavalee....Well when the fusion happen in a subtle way...It soon became a part of the culture of the people..Interesting that Malaysian are ready to accept the cultural elements of the other races as long as it does bring goodness to the society...thus enriched the society itself.....a Malaysian culture in the making....The Open house concept is yet another good example......It is also being celebrated as a Malaysian thing...Soon we would see a Chinese New Year's Open House celebrated in grand style at the major Hotels and the public are welcome to enjoy the Chinese New Year with their Chinese friends....The atmosphere has began to change from Christmas, the New Year atmosphere....to the Chinese New Years...Store are beginning to see traditional Chinese foods...sold only at this occasion....and even the clothing fashion has change to more of a Chinese look....the style as well as color of the textiles use in these clothing are more Chinese....the red color are always present....A symbol of prosperity to the Chinese...Even the potted flowers are began to have that Chinese influence...We soon see more and more potted yellow lime tree dotted in the nursery for sale...these dwarf lime trees are love and treasured by the Chinese...Yellow being the color of Gold...also a color of Greatness... Wealth and of course of Prosperity....so to the Malaysian...Not only the Chinese buy these lime tree.... the other Malaysian also would buy to decorate their home..., not so much of any religious significant...it is just for deco and the fun of it all......it is going to be another celebration to enjoy.....that is Malaysia...a land of diverse culture...a fusion of the many culture of the great Asian people.......

No comments: