Celebrations of Asia

This semester is (very) quickly drawing to a close but even with all the hectic-ness of planning my upcoming trip with Harriet in April, and getting exams/marks sorted for my students, that hasn't stopped me, or the school for that matter, from having time to fit in some more celebrations and expose me to the many dimensions of Asian culture. Firstly, a few of us ventured once again to the Church of the Blessing in Korat to greet some friends of the church from Seoul, Korea and watch them perform some songs, dances, and a play about the story of Isaac. Although I'm not the religious type, it was a nice environment to spend the night and a welcome opportunity to meet new people. One person I met in particular was a guy named Allen, who was from Seoul and had come with his church to speak the word of God and perform around various schools in the city. I was blown away by his friendliness and his genuine interest in introducing himself and wanting to get to know me. (Plus he knew where Wales was and had heard of Cardiff Bay so that straight away was an icebreaker). You might be wondering why I was so shocked, but without sounding stereotypical (although this totally sounds stereotypical), many people I have met over here haven't been so confident in introducing themselves, and this is almost certainly down to their lack of confidence in their English speaking skills (remember I said that hardly anyone in Korat speaks conversational English?). Regardless of this, it was really nice to meet him and makes me realise how lucky I am to meet such amazing people from all over the world.

That weekend, I met up with my friend and went to a Molam concert. Molam is a Thai peformance group whose music is inspired by and celebrates the instruments and musical culture of the Isaan province (the province which I live in -- the biggest in Thailand). When I was first asked to go to this, I just imagine it to be like a regular gig...a couple of hours in the late evening of a Saturday night...how wrong I was. We didn't actually show up at the gig until midnight which was practically in the middle of nowhere (around 40kms outside of Korat) and didn't leave until gone 6am. We spent all night drinking and dancing to this really cool music. Donning perhaps the sparkliest outfits I have ever seen, the group performed a string of songs which all seemed to connect to some story they were acting out (or so I thought...this all was completely delivered in Thai remember...) and everytime the group broke out in song, everyone would be on their feet and dancing. Furthermore, this one group performed the WHOLE night, and were still going strong when I left at 6am. God knows how long they were on until!

The following week welcomed the next big holiday in the Thai calendar, which was (ironically enough) Chinese New Year. At Assumption, the school was decked out with Chinese lanterns, banners, and all the staff were wearing red as a mark of respect (and good luck!). The Brother Director presented each staff with a HongBao (紅包), a red envelope containing money (560 baht!). The envelope is red to bring good luck and to ward off bad spirits. Also I found out that the amount of money you receive has to end with an even digit to again bring good luck (and you give money ending in an odd digit at funerals...).  The Chinese teachers and interns of Assumption also put on several performances showcasing traditional Chinese song and dance, as well as some modern Chinese pop dancing.

In Korat itself, the city put on a three-day celebration; All the townspeople gathered at Yamo monument to celebrate the turn of the new year. Decked out with stalls, Chinese lanterns, glowing dragons and the like, the place became almost unrecognisable. I wandered around alone on the first night but it wasn't until the actual day of Chinese New Year that festivities really got into full swing. For dinner that evening, a group of the foreign teachers went to Korat's only 5* hotel, Sima Thani, for what was an awesome buffet. Considering it was just over 300 baht for the all-you-can-eat buffet which sampled both western and asian dishes, it was well worth the money and happily sent my body into a food coma. Following that, we all ventured to Yamo to see the main event. When we arrived, we were greeted by two large glowing dragons scaling two (maybe) 50ft poles. It was quite the spectacle and marked the pinnacle of the celebrations. As this year is my Chinese New Year (The year of the Goat), it was imperative (apparently) that I was to wear red on this day. In Chinese culture, your year actually is a sign of bad luck, not good luck as I originally thought. And heck, after quite a crappy year last year, I didn't want to take any chances!

(Photo Credit: Natalie Yau)

Let's hope this next year does bring me good luck and fortune! 恭禧发财