Year 2012 also coincides with the year of the dragon. Dragon is a symbol of wisdom so may this lead to wise decisions on every step you take. Gong Hei Fatt Choi, Gong Xi Fa Cai and we hope you will have a prosperous year of the dragon ahead.

But as I hinted last week, this article is pretty much a Chinese New Year’s edition. The Year Of the Golden Rabbit has already kicked off and what is said to be a year of prosperity and health has started really nicely. The Chinese New Year is naturally all about reunion and families coming together to celebrate the past and upcoming years with good food, traditions such as ang paws (red envelopes) and occasional gambling. Everyone’s generally in a good mood and people are enjoying themselves, much like with the Western holidays. So the past few days we’ve cruised around meeting relatives and two things have remained the same, the jeans and me carrying Maxwell. Maxwell’s my wingman, you know like Batman has Robin and all.

While not carrying around Maxwell, I might have picked up a tortoise in case I came across one. Please note that it was allowed to carry the tortoise and I did not bully him/her. Actually this was probably the first time I have carried a tortoise of this size before. Lucky I was a bit more cautious than a little girl who just happened to drop the tortoise. No pictures of the situation and the tortoise is fine, just got a scare of a lifetime I suppose.

I might have mentioned lanterns’ significance with the Chinese New Year on the blog before, but these lanterns that repel evil are as traditional as Chinese New Year itself. What I really love is the decorations they put up at temples during this time. Really elaborate lantern decorations. These lanterns are from Thean Hou Temple, to which we’ll get back to a bit later in the post.

Another tradition as famous as lanterns, (probably even more famous) is the lion dance. A little history on the lion dance. According to the ever reliable Wikipedia, “the story goes that once upon a time a monk had a dream in which there were many sorrows and evils plaguing the land. The monk prayed and asked the gods how he could prevent these evils from occurring. The gods told him that a lion would protect them and fight back the evils. The Chinese people had never see a lion before, but had heard stories that the lion was the king of all the other animals, so the monk combined all the lucky or magical animals he could think of and so made a lion.” This Chinese New Year I got in the middle of more than one lion dance, more like three. Hopefully that’s an auspicious sign.

If you look in closely you might recognize the lion these lovely ladies are posing with.

Usually people want to pat the lion and take pictures with him/her but this time it was the lions and their entourage that wanted to take a picture with me. Hopefully another auspicious sign.

I have visited many temples in Malaysia but one that for some reason I have missed out until now is the Thean Hou temple in Kuala Lumpur dedicated to Goddess Thean Hou (The Heavenly Mother). Needless to say the temple was pretty impressive in all of its awesomeness. These pictures usually drain your memory card and I had to think for a long time what pictures I would post on the blog, but here are few.

My lovely sister in law.

Another lion.

The Copper Label Momotaro Jeans are enjoying their last days/week of action before retirement. Yes, I said it 55 weeks and we’re closing in on retirement of this project to give space to a new project that will commence as soon as the jeans reach my residence in Malaysia. That will definitely be an awesome project not only because the jeans look dope, but also because the project is part of Project Wear and Tear, which has kicked off just to say nicely. So let’s see what this week brings along, but let me just say that the Malaysian weather tests the jeans like Finnish weather seldom does. I’m out, peace…

The year of the Tiger treated us great. Provided us with great challenges, new opportunities and great new friends. The year was a prosperous one, which gives us hope that the year of the Rabbit will be an equally prosperous year. The year of the Golden Rabbit only comes once in 60 years and denotes health and fortune. Our Little Tiger Maxwell, although born in the year of the Tiger is having time of his life celebrating his first Chinese New Year. And although he is mostly receiving ang paus, being the generous little fellow he is, he wants to send his ang pau regards to each and everyone of you.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone from the entire NDH Crew!

–update–
I just had to include the KIKS TYO Chinese New Year’s Wish picture on the post as well. Cheers!

Picture courtesy of KIKS TYO.

As Jumpman23 put it, “2011 is the Year of the Rabbit within the Chinese Zodiac calendar, and it has particular significance to Jordan. Those born under the “Rabbit” sign are articulate, talented and ambitious. They are admired and trusted. Michael Jordan himself was born in the Year of the Rabbit and embodies these qualities to a tee.”

To fit the season the shoes actually come in an ang pau shoebox. The box front consists of Chinese New Year and Jordan elements with cherry blossoms formed from the word air and 23 pattern on the inner border. The red and old box alone is nice, but what about the kicks? The sneaker features a white/metallic gold-varsity red-wolf grey colorway that represents the rabbit, the shoes highlight the red and gold, a very auspicious mix that fits to the Chinese New Year’s theme. Not a bad way to kick start the new Lunar Year.

Pictures courtesy of Freshness.

As promised I will be posting more Chinese New Year related stuff this and next week and we’re just getting started. New Lunar Year means a new beginning and  to celebrate this people often purchase new gear. I mentioned this in my past post so pardon the follow up but in celebration of this joyous and auspicious celebration we are throwing The Year Of Tiger Promotion. Welcome the new lunar year in style and make use of the 13% discount you can get by using coupon code NDH-CNY10 at the checkout. The coupon code is valid from 5th until 15th of February 2010.

Art by Simon Birch

Remember The Year Of The Golden Tiger is bound to be an auspicious one. I’m excited about this upcoming holiday season. Stay tuned for more, drop us your comments and questions. We love to hear from you. Gong Hei Fatt Choi, Gong Xi Fatt Cai, Happy Chinese New Year. I will say repeat these words again and again, but you have to start the wishes early enough. Cheers, I’m out…