Yes, red is the colour as always for Chinese New Year (aka Lunar New Year or Spring Festival) and this year is no exception. And gold too. Oh yes, red and gold are everywhere!

The Year of the Dragon is coming, and we are in the last few days of the great preparations, which means spring cleaning, shopping and getting ready for the 7-day holiday, which starts tomorrow, Thursday. New clothes and a clean home are the order of the day. Trains and buses are fully booked, and with a vast exodus of people as everyone travels to their family homes, so Taipei City will be much quieter than usual. Once at the family home, there’s cooking, cooking and more cooking of food for ancestor worship and the main family reunion event on New Year’s Eve (Friday, Feb. 9), with others on the days following. So it’s all go! 

Possibly the best place to go in Taipei City for New Year shopping is Taipei’s oldest street, Di-Hua Street 迪化街, near the river at Dadaocheng. The buildings date from the 1850s and the street is full of old shops selling Chinese medicine, tea and fabric. At Chinese New Year, there’s a huge street market and crowds of people. Beyond the crowds are some more beautiful old buildings, many still selling traditional wares, and quite a few reinvented as art places or coffee shops. 

Then there’s the ultra-modern business and shopping area near Taipei 101, for those into serious brand-name shopping, plus street entertainment…

Not far away is the Jian-Guo Flower Market, normally open at weekends in a car parking area under one of the expressway overpasses, but open all this week too. Check out the dragon at the central flower display…

A big part of Chinese New Year involves ancestor worship. As a result, many women say it’s an extra busy time of year with all the food preparation for the ancestor offerings. For Christians, some churches will have services on the first day of the New Year, while the Taiwan Episcopal Church has its own Ancestor Memorial Liturgy, held as part of the Sunday services in all our churches on the Sunday before Chinese New Year. It’s very meaningful. Prayers are said and candles are lit in memory of the ancestors, and there’s a framed list of names of people specifically to be remembered. This photo below was taken at St. John’s Cathedral last Sunday. Red envelopes are also a big tradition, filled with money to give as gifts. We’ll be giving out red envelopes on Sunday at church – but containing a card with Bible verses!

Continuing on with the street celebrations ~ this was Taipei’s bustling area of Ximending tonight, in between heavy rain showers! This is a major shopping area for young people – and tourists, and there were plenty of both. The lanterns on the footbridge, especially those handmade by local schools were especially beautiful!

Ximending is going to be the main site of Taipei’s Lantern Festival in a few weeks, and workers were setting up the dragon lantern, not ready yet – so watch this space!

So here we go, and wishing you all a very Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon this weekend! 🐲🧨🐉