The Year of the Snake

During the 6 months we have lived in Indonesia, we have seen 3 New Year's Celebrations (Al-Hijra or the Islamic New Year on November 15th, the Calendar New Year on January 1st and the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year on February 10th).  Thank goodness I only had one birthday throughout these three new years!!!!  We were excited to learn a little more about the Chinese New Year, but I am ashamed to admit that I haven't learned nearly as much as I had wanted to.  Decorations are all over Jakarta.  The color red is everywhere and we got to see the amazing Barongsai (Lion) Dance.  We learned that, traditionally, Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days, ending with the Lantern Festival. We also learned that Chinese New Year is a little like Valentine's Day.  We were told that single women will write their phone numbers on oranges and throw them into the rivers in hopes that a single man will pick it up and they will find true love!  Next year, we hope to learn even more about the Lunar New Year and hopefully we will find somewhere to experience the traditional Lantern Festival!  For now, here are a few pictures from the Barongasai Dance!

There was a huge crowd of people to see the performance.  We were on the third floor and had to fight for a spot! Most people were wearing red.  Check out one kid's lucky red shirt below!

These dragons were manned by two people.

They danced and jumped around on these poles.   All the while, keeping time with the drums and music! 

After the Barongsai Dance, we found a group singing traditional Chinese New Year songs.  I was super impressed when Emilie started singing along (in Chinese) and even more impressed when she could translate what they were saying!

Selamat Tahun Baru!