What: Chinese Lunar New Year
Funtion: Pigs + Gold = 2007
Proof: From the culture that invented them you would expect nothing less than extravagance. Of course there are more than billion people in this country, but just within our 5 square miles tens of thousands of people were all doing the same thing, and the results were surreal. "Fireflowers" were ignited anywhere one might walk, as evidenced by the omnidirectional layer of red paper shrapnel and empty canisters. We "popped" our own, lighting only mere babies, but all around us was the innocuous thunder and reverberating crackles of what everyone kept likening to a "WARzone." Yeah, a fantastical warzone on a planet where battles are fought with only sparkles and sprinkles and kabooms that don't hurt!? But the real spectacle was situated 14 floors up amidst the canyon of apartment towers. Eye-level with the explosions, sparks tapping against the glass, we clustered near the windows, like puppies in a kennel, positively squealing. Later, I meandered hither and thither in the darker places and just closed my eyes and listened.
Here in a little shop I watched some of the "Most Watched TV Show on Earth," The Lunar New Year state-TV spectacular. The lady said that this guy was really good singing gospel-style in Chinese.
