We Chinese celebrate the Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is the biggest festival in China, the celebration generally lasts 15 days.
Thursday the 3rd Feb 2011 was the Chinese New Years day. In Australia, this day was not a public holiday. By following the Chinese tradition, I made sure that the first day of the new year to be a happy day. First I made the day free of work, and supported by my Aussi husband, I was free from house duties as well.
As such, I went to the temple on New Years Eve to join the new year ceremony with friends. The ceremony included a farewell to the old year, welcome to the new year, a review of our life in the past year, confessions, making good wishes for the new year. After the ceremony, we sat down to have tea. We enjoyed the fragrant gong fu tea and ate delicious sweets and sticky rice cakes 年糕 (Nian Gao). In Chinese, Nian Gao means moving up every year, and it is one of the traditional foods on Chinese New Years day. I stayed in temple till 2am. Chinese believe if you stay up over night through the New Years Eve, your parents will have a long life.
On the New Years Day, I met up with friends in Darling Harbour, we bought some live fish to release them into the harbour. 放生（Fang Sheng– Release Life) is believed to be a good thing to do on the first day of the year. After that, we walked to the city and had lunch at a vegan restaurant called Peace & Harmony Restaurant.
After lunch, I visited a massage clinic, to have an hour body treatment. I went home in time for a family dinner. I had a great day on the first day of the new year, my spirit, mind and body are uplifted. It is not something that I can make all by myself. Big thanks to my family and friends, and hope everyone have peace and harmony in the rabbit year.