The Chinese calendar counts 354 days so every 3 year, a month is repeated twice. But it’s never the same month and the first month is never repeated. The first day of CNY marks the start of spring. One of the customs of CNY is to buy everything new. The explanation is hidden behind the legend. There was a time when a monster terrorised the villages during the night. An astrologist was consulted. He was able to predict when the monster will come next and advised the villagers to do the following: make a lot of noise and make a fire. And thus, the villagers burnt all their furniture and made a lot of noise (with fire powder!). They also painted the houses in red and created a fake monster to scare the real one. All this ruse worked and the monster was scared and never returned. This legend is the cradle to all the CNY traditions: red for good fortune, lion dance, fire crackers, and also replace everything as per the legend, all was burnt so everything needed replacing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le calendrier chinois compte 354 jours donc tous les 3 ans, un mois se r\u00e9p\u00e8te deux fois. Mais ce n’est jamais le m\u00eame mois et le premier mois ne se r\u00e9p\u00e8te jamais. Le premier jour de l’ann\u00e9e marque le d\u00e9but du printemps. L’une des coutumes du CNY est de se d\u00e9barrasser de l’ancien et de le remplacer par du neuf. L’explication se cache derri\u00e8re la l\u00e9gende. Il fut un temps o\u00f9 un monstre terrorisait les villages pendant la nuit. Un astrologue a \u00e9t\u00e9 consult\u00e9. Il a pu pr\u00e9dire quand le monstre viendrait la prochaine fois et a conseill\u00e9 aux villageois de faire beaucoup de bruit et de faire du feu pour faire peur au monstre. Et ainsi, les villageois ont br\u00fbl\u00e9 tous leurs meubles et fait beaucoup de bruit (avec de la poudre !). Ils ont \u00e9galement peint les maisons en rouge et cr\u00e9\u00e9 un faux monstre pour effrayer le vrai. Toute cette ruse a fonctionn\u00e9, le monstre a eu peur et n’est jamais revenu. Cette l\u00e9gende est le berceau de toutes les traditions CNY : le rouge pour la bonne fortune, la danse du lion, les p\u00e9tards, et aussi remplacer l’ancien par du neuf (en effet, selon la l\u00e9gende, comme tout a \u00e9t\u00e9 br\u00fbl\u00e9 il a fallut tout remplacer).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shophouses are originally from China. They are long and narrow houses with the shop on the ground floor and accommodation above and behind. There is a courtyard inside for light and air circulation. They have been wide-spread by the British in Singapore. There are many to see everywhere. They are generally well preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Les shophouses (litt\u00e9ralement maison-magasins) sont originaires de Chine. Ce sont des maisons longues et \u00e9troites avec un magasin au rez-de-chauss\u00e9e et des logements au-dessus et derri\u00e8re. Il y a une cour \u00e0 l’int\u00e9rieur pour la lumi\u00e8re et la circulation de l’air. Elles ont \u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9pandus par les Britanniques \u00e0 Singapour. Il y en a beaucoup \u00e0 voir partout. Elles sont g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement bien conserv\u00e9es.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We walked along the old railway dating from early 18th century. It went from Tanjong Pagar to Malaysia via Orchard, Newton and Bukit Timah. Alas, it was not a success because of flooding and was abandoned. There is no remnant nowadays, except for a linear garden tucked between two rows of shophouses. Little fact: in 1925, the British implemented spiral staircases and the back of the houses, as well as fire walls to limit casualty in case of fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nous avons march\u00e9 le long de l’ancienne voie ferr\u00e9e datant du d\u00e9but du 18\u00e8me si\u00e8cle. Le train allait de Tanjong Pagar \u00e0 la Malaisie via Orchard, Newton et Bukit Timah. H\u00e9las, il n’a pas eu un grand succ\u00e8s \u00e0 cause des inondations et a \u00e9t\u00e9 abandonn\u00e9. Il n’en reste aujourd’hui aucun vestige, si ce n’est un jardin lin\u00e9aire nich\u00e9 entre deux rang\u00e9es de shophouses. Petit fait int\u00e9ressant : en 1925, les Britanniques ont oblig\u00e9 les propri\u00e9taires de shophouses \u00e0 construire des escaliers de secours en colima\u00e7on \u00e0 l’arri\u00e8re des maisons, ainsi que des murs coupe-feu pour limiter les pertes humaines en cas d’incendie.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Everybody knows there are 12 Chinese zodiac sign. And for each, there are 5 elements. So a full cycle is 60 years. This year is the water rabbit. The first day of CNY must be spent with the close family and the most important meal of CNY is the dinner on Chinese New Year Eve. The second day is to visit friends. The third day, it is best not to meet any friends as they are going to become enemies (if they are met on the 3rd day of CNY). The fourth day business is back and it’s generally the time for the lion dances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tout le monde sait qu’il y a 12 signes du zodiaque chinois. Et pour chaque signe, il y a 5 \u00e9l\u00e9ments. Un cycle complet dure donc 60 ans. Cette ann\u00e9e c’est le lapin d’eau. Le premier jour de CNY doit \u00eatre pass\u00e9 avec la famille proche et le repas le plus important de CNY est le d\u00eener du r\u00e9veillon. Le deuxi\u00e8me jour est pour rendre visite aux amis. Le troisi\u00e8me jour, il est pr\u00e9f\u00e9rable de ne pas rencontrer d’amis car sinon ils vont devenir des ennemis. Le travail reprend le quatri\u00e8me jour et c’est aussi l’occasion d’avoir les danses du lion.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you know that it is bad luck to cut things the first day of CNY? Because it cuts off relationships. Another interesting thing: it is a sign of longevity if children go to sleep after midnight on the first day of CNY. Chinese people are very superstitious!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saviez-vous que \u00e7a porte malheur de couper des choses le premier jour du CNY ? Parce que \u00e7a coupe les relations. Autre chose int\u00e9ressante : on incite les enfants \u00e0 s’endormir apr\u00e8s minuit le premier jour de CNY parce que c’est un signe de long\u00e9vit\u00e9. Les Chinois sont tres superstitieux !<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The streets were packed with stalls and people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Les rues \u00e9taient bond\u00e9es. Beacuoup d’\u00e9tals de partout.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We finished our visit with a traditional new year meal. Each dish has a meaning to bring happiness, prosperity and longevity. A Singaporean tradition is the Lo Hei. It is a salad that has to be mixed by everyone around the table (using chopsticks) and saying words like “prosperity” and rising the chopsticks as high as possible. The guide gave us all the details but it’s in French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nous avons termin\u00e9 notre visite par un repas traditionnel du nouvel an. Chaque plat a une signification pour apporter bonheur, prosp\u00e9rit\u00e9 et long\u00e9vit\u00e9. Une tradition singapourienne est le Lo Hei. C’est une salade qui doit \u00eatre m\u00e9lang\u00e9e par tout le monde autour de la table (\u00e0 l’aide de baguettes) et en pronon\u00e7ant des mots comme \u00ab prosp\u00e9rit\u00e9 \u00bb et en levant les baguettes le plus haut possible. La guide nous a donn\u00e9 tous les d\u00e9tails.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The picture at the top shows Kreta Ayer, which means water cart. Indeed, when Chinatown was build, there was no running water and so Indian carried water on carts to the houses.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n L’image en haut montre Kreta Ayer, ce qui signifie char \u00e0 eau. En effet, lorsque Chinatown a \u00e9t\u00e9 construit, il n’y avait pas d’eau courante et les Indiens transportaient l’eau sur des charrettes jusqu’aux maisons.<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To celebrate Chinese new year (CNY), Accueil Singapore organised a visit of Chinatown with the usual guide. 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