Chinese New Year Feast along Ongpin Street

Ongpin Street is abuzz this morning because of the Chinese New Year. That’s why I made it to point to pass through Ongpin Street just to see the festivities.

The inflatable arch near the Carriedo Fountain welcomes visitors. Ongpin Street is adorned with Chinese lanterns.

It seems like the inflatable arches are popular these days. Even Lido de Paris Hotel has one and the kids posing with the balloon version of the Chinese lion.

Chinese New Year is all about luck. People want to be lucky that’s why they have firecrackers to ward off bad luck. Tigers and lions dance to bring good luck to businesses. And of course, lucky charms are available for those who want to attract good luck.

The weird thing is that the Holy Family and the crucifix were also made to become lucky charms. I know that evil spirits fear the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and Jesus Christ but they are not lucky charms. I think that luck, particularly Feng Sui, is incompatible with Christianity.

I’ve been seeing fruits and vegetables with red ribbons since the Christmas Season. Street vendors guarantee that these are special fruits and veggies because they bring in good fortune. I can’t believe that red ribbon have that special power to make things bringer of good luck. Maybe it’s the reason why Red Ribbon cakes are popular.

It is the “Year of the Horse” so most popular lucky charms are those related to horses like these figurines:

And that’s not all, I saw karatela with their horses at Plaza Lorenzo Ruiz. There might be a “parade of horses” this afternoon.

What I like with Binondo Chinatown is the food. There are so many restaurants to choose from and some of them have tickled Pinoy’s taste buds like this Fried Siopao shop along Ongpin.

The queue of siopao buyers is very long. I wonder how good their siopao is. I will definitely try this after Chinese New Year, when the crowd is gone.

Castañas is also hot this time of the year.

It is a very busy day for this castañas cook.
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My favorite tikoy is actually being sold right off the sidewalks. There’s so many many generic (or not popular brand) tikoy along Ongpin Street but people still queue for Eng Bee Tin’s tikoy. It seems like the crowd followed the media promotions done by news anchors and celebrities for Eng Bee Tin.

I’m glad to see that my favorite place along Ongpin Street has plenty of visitors.

Chinese New Year is the only day when Ongpin Street can rival the streets of Divisoria. The place is crowded even if only very small portion of Filipinos celebrate Chinese New Year.

I noticed, however, that this year’s Chinese New Year is less gay as compared to the previous years’. I just saw few Chinese lion dancers. There is very long dragon and two Chinese lions near Binondo Church but that’s all that I saw this morning.

The only “live” performance that I saw was that mini-“ati-atihan” dance, which is not that lively compared to the real Ati-atihan.

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The current mode of Chinese New Year celebration is OK but I think it can be improved, especially that the government treated it as a national holiday. Chinese New Year may be made as day to highlight the Chinese culture and its connection with the Philippine society. I believe that more people will come to Binondo Chinatown if Chinese New Year is made to be a cultural festival.
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