I live in a multiracial country. Here, we have a lot more holidays than most other places because there are special holidays for the Malays, the Chinese, the Indians and the indigenous folk. This variety of holidays translates into lots of time to visit one another and to see the sights.
It also means that intermingling of culture takes place. For instance, the giving of ang-pows used to be only done by the Chinese. Over the years, the Malays do it, but their packets are coloured green. Recently the bank gave me some ang-pows to give away – for Deepavali. These were in purple!
Now, this fusion has evolved even to the interpretation of symbols. Take this mall decoration for instance. It’s the year of the Rabbit I am told. But the main features are butterflies. Beautiful colourful and lovely butterflies.
They settle on lilies, and the rabbits are pale in comparison.
I like the butterflies actually. It really does add to the variety!
Here you can see it bubbling away on the stove, made into a lovely soup, fit for a king! Indeed, legend has it that the emperors of China loved this dish.
The queue folded back on itself three times!
And queue he did.
But what the people really wanted was the duck and the proprietor kept bringing in more and more of that.
So we got out duck finally and went home with it. But it wasn’t cut. The man didn’t have the time to spare to cut it up. He said in Chinese, “Every year also like this! I never cut! Never finish if I cut!”
Yes, it has its own built-in moat! With less than a third of a cup of water, the moat and its crevices are nicely filled up.
