The Chinese celebrate the arrival of the world pig every year "Daily Capital of Mar del Plata

by Elaine Yu

HONG KONG.- Chinese communities established around the world on Tuesday welcomed the Year of the Pig, marking the arrival of the Lunar New Year with prayers, family celebrations and shopping.

Over the past week, hundreds of millions of people in mainland China have taken the train, buses, cars and planes to visit their families and friends during the world's largest annual migration, emptying megacities of the world. countries of a large part of the immigrant labor force.

Celebrations will take place all over the world, from Chinese communities in Southeast Asia to the newest Chinatowns, Sydney, London, Vancouver, Los Angeles and beyond.

The most important holiday on the calendar is a fortnight, during which the families gathered eat ravioli, exchange gifts and red envelopes full of money.

The normally busy streets of Beijing were empty Monday and many shops and restaurants were closed until next week.

A growing number of Chinese people are also choosing to travel abroad, including Thailand, Japan and elsewhere.

Chinese archaeologists have discovered that China was one of the first sites to domesticate pigs, 9,000 years ago, almost at the same time as in Turkey, according to the bones of this animal found in the province from Henan, reported the news agency. Xinhua

Prayers and thank you

In Hong Kong, the flower markets were filled with people buying orchids, mandarins and peach blossoms to decorate their homes, with stalls that also featured an incredible variety of stuffed toys.

Thousands of people with incense, some dressed in pig costumes, gathered in the city's famous Wong Tai Sin Temple during the night, a popular place to celebrate the first New Year prayers.
In Shanghai, crowds gathered in Longhua Temple to pray for happiness.

In Malaysia, where 60% of the population is Muslim and a quarter Chinese ethnicity, some shopping centers have chosen not to display pig decorations, while other stores have kept them at home. ; inside.

But shoppers and shopkeepers said it was common in a country where the Muslim majority was reluctant towards an animal considered unclean by Islam and that it was not safe for them. there was little controversy in general this year.

In Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, which also has a large population of Chinese stock, the Lunar New Year is a holiday.

In Japan, the capital's famous Tokyo Tower will be lit in red to celebrate the New Year, a first for the city.

It is also the most important festival in Vietnam, where it is celebrated under the name of Tet.

Lion parades and dances will reach western cities such as New York and London, attracting significant audiences.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen used social media to launch an attack on Beijing with a message in which she highlighted the democratic credentials and linguistic pluralism of the island.

"In Taiwan, we can maintain our cultural traditions," he said in a video in which he presented the traditional New Year's greetings in five Chinese languages: Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, Teochew and Cantonese. .

The minorities blame Beijing for giving preponderance to Mandarin over other languages.

AFP-NA