Welcome the New Year. Twice!
Posted on December 1, 2013 by bob in Travel
Riverboat in Savannah (Courtesy: tybeevisit.com)
by Andre Gross; photos by Irv Green (unless otherwise noted)
The clock strikes midnight. Fireworks explode. Confetti fills the air. And I get a chance to make a whole new set of resolutions, some of which I may even keep. How can I not like New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day? What’s more, if celebrating once is nice, wouldn’t twice be even better?
Squeezing two such festivities into one year takes planning, but it can be done. First, welcome the new year on December 31st and January 1st, the dates set by the internationally-accepted Gregorian calendar. Then, several weeks later partake in a traditional Chinese New Year’s celebration, the date of which is set according to the age-old Chinese calendar. [In 2014, Chinese New Year will fall on January 31.]
Savannah’s Polar Plunge
Two places that celebrate the new year in very different ways are Savannah, Georgia, and Richmond, British Columbia.
Savannah, Georgia (www.savannahvisit.com)
As midnight approaches, people make their way to the upper deck of the three-tiered riverboat. They’ve been partying for more than three hours — dancing to live music, feasting on hors d’oeuvres and a buffet of elegant offerings. Now, as fireworks from nearby Tybee Island color the sky, it’s time to welcome the new year.
On shore, Savannah’s famed City Market, a four-block area of restored buildings, is filled with landlubbers who are enjoying the city’s biggest street party. Some are dining in one of the many restaurants; others are enjoying the free entertainment outside. Then the countdown begins, and a man lifts his son to his shoulders for a better view of the fireworks. Another man lifts his drink as the band strikes up Auld Lang Syne. The new year has officially begun.
The next day more than 2,000 people, presumably recovered from the previous night’s revelry, gather on Tybee Island for the Polar Plunge, an event that raises money for a local charity. In addition to swimming caps, which range from ordinary-plain to frivolously freaky, they are outfitted in glittery capes, feather boas, bathrobes, PJs and, occasionally, regular old bikinis and briefs.
At noon they race for the water, emerging a few minutes later, shivering and smiling. “I’ve washed off the sins of the past. Now I’m ready to enjoy the new year,” says one woman. She wraps her arms about herself, smiles and disappears into the crowd of cold, but cleansed, folks.
Richmond, British Columbia (www.tourismrichmond.com)
Three thousand miles away people in Richmond, British Columbia have just finished packing away the piney boughs and glass ornaments that represent the Western holiday season when they begin preparing for the traditional Chinese New Year’s celebration. In Richmond, this second welcoming of the new year is a very, very big deal. This isn’t surprising given that the city boasts North America’s highest percentage of people of Chinese heritage outside of China.
Walking the streets of the area known as the Golden Village — a four square-block enclave that is home to more than 400 Asian restaurants and three Asian-themed malls — it’s easy to believe you’re in China, except that there’s no smog, the water is safe to drink and most people understand English.
Festivities begin approximately two weeks before New Year’s Day, as malls set up special booths where 
vendors hawk elaborate flower arrangements and special holiday treats. At Landsdowne Mall women make paper fish and lanterns; children perform dances and demonstrate their skill in martial arts; and expert calligraphers make banners that are used to decorate homes and public places.
On New Year’s Eve restaurants serve multi-course feasts where each food has a special meaning. Since pork symbolizes good luck, Shanghai River Restaurant prepares bamboo baskets filled with xiao long bao (steamed dumplings filled with minced pork and jellied broth). “These are packages of good fortune,” says the waiter. Seafood dishes are supposed to bring prosperity because in ancient times only the wealthy could afford such treats, while eating long, uncut noodles foretells a long life. Sweet, sticky rice is served as a reminder that families should “stick together” and support one another.
After dinner, many folks go to the Aberdeen Mall, where the new year is welcomed with speeches, lion dancing and lots and lots of confetti. Others go to the Kuan Yin Temple of the International Buddhist Society, which is modeled in part after the Forbidden City in Beijing. It is considered by many to be one of the most magnificent Buddhist temples in North America. There they greet the new year with prayer, many even staying overnight in order to be among the first to receive blessings in the new year. By noon on New Year’s Day thousands of folks have congregated at the temple for a prayer ceremony and vegetarian lunch.
“Yes,” I say to myself as I munch on some bamboo shoots, “it’s definitely nice to celebrate twice.”
