Chinese New Year

I thought Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, Imlek was just one day. It turns out it's really 2 weeks and here the outside decorations and mall decorations go up before that.

At one of the area malls we caught part of a traditional lion dance. I won't detail the history of this here but just say two performers demonstrate a lion's movements and/or martial arts abilities. There are different dance styles. In this mall's show there are two lions. To me their movements seem more like a puppy than a lion but it's fun to watch.  It is tradition at these shows to write down a wish for good luck throughout the year and place the note in the mouth of the lion. We were several floors above the action at first so we weren't close enough to see if they are handing the note to the performer in the "head" or if there is some special slot for the note or how it works exactly. However, in the first photo you can see a guy with an envelope giving the "lion" an envelope.

Also at this time of year we see the dragon dances. Dragons are helpful, important creatures and these dances are performed to drive away evil spirits.The cast to control the dragon was very large so they could switch out often. Quite the workout. In reducing the video file size some resolution is lost but hopefully you will be able to see enough to get a sense of the dance. (Remember you may need to be on a desktop or laptop or some tablets in order to view the video.)

Our mall around the corner was decorated for Imlek as well—inside and out. 2016 is the year of the monkey.

On Saturday, Feb 20 we attended an Imlek party hosted by Ibu and Pak PP of Barito Pacific Group.
At this small affair there were ~100 guests, two emcees, karaoke performances, a comedian, and more. There was also a 10 course traditional Imlek Chinese dinner.

The first course is a bit of an event. Ingredients I can remember are: shredded carrot, salmon with lime juice, giant cup of oil, plum sauce, cinnamon, pepper, thinly sliced glaceed green and red cherries, bean sprouts, a very thin sort of Frito chip, and noodles.  The base of the course is brought to each table. One selected guest then adds the remaining ingredients one at a time. After all the additions, all of the guests at the table mix the stuff on the plate with giant chop sticks all at once.
(Same suggestion about viewing the video as mentioned above.)

The rest of the menu was as follows:

Here is a group shot of some of the important people at the party. You might recognize one!

Still on the topic of Chinese New Year, oranges are typically given as gifts. At the grocery a couple of weeks ago I saw a case of srikaya fruit all ready for gifting for the new year.  But look at the price! Rp 1,229,000 ($92 US) for 6 srikaya.  This fruit is in the same group as soursop and cherimoya. Other names for srikaya are sugar-apple, custard pineapple, sugar pineapple and sweetsop.  Inside is the consistency of pudding with floral notes. It makes a very interesting jam that's more like a curd or "butter."