CNY2020 : Red Church, Red Mouse

The first day of the Lunar Chinese New Year is always a tiring day for me. We'll be at church bright and early to help out with all the preparations :

1. Moving a few hundred kilograms of mandarin oranges into place at the side of the altar.
2. Arranging extra chairs outside the church.
3. And make preparations for the Rite of Commemoration of Ancestors after mass proper.

Here's an excerpt from the Herald : 

Since giving respect to the family’s ancestors is also vital to Chinese New Year, the Rite of Commemoration of ancestors began after the final blessing.

First an introduction on it was given, detailing why departed relatives are remembered with great  respect — because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the family.

Honouring the ancestors on the first day of Chinese New Year is a way of fulfilling filial piety.

It is a tradition of the church to offer special prayers to our departed loved ones during Mass.

The rite of commemoration of the ancestors is in accordance with and not in contradiction to the teachings of the Church.

Pope Pius XII in 1939 stated that “the liturgical ceremony of bowing in respect to the photographs or tablets of our ancestors, is both reasonable, as well as permissible”.

Hence, in accordance with this, Christians can honour their ancestors, as long as they do not have the idea of worshipping them as idols.

 Although officially the Catholic Church allows it, there's actually a lot of dissenting voices among the Catholic community. They view the practice as pagan and very wrong. The use of red decorations,  joss sticks, and the ancestral tablet are frowned upon as defiling God's altar. Same view for celebrating Ponggal and Gawai in church. FYI, the Rite of Commemoration of Ancestors is also not common in East Malaysia. But in Peninsular Malaysia, this is a common and accepted annual practice by the clergy.



Finished up my duty around lunch time, and boy was I pooped and hungry. Ventured to Pavilion Kuala Lumpur to see the Mickey Mouse-themed Lunar Chinese New Year decorations. Ate at the first restaurant we saw, which was Dolly Dim Sum. Good business contributed by the Malays and tourists. Quite expensive, but their dim sum is of above average quality.



Maybank had a promotion of free Mickey Mouse-themed red packets for shoppers. Shanghai Bund Mickey, who could resist! That kinda helped us loosen our purse strings.



And looks like my luck for the Year of the Rate should be pretty good. Out of the hordes of shoppers, migrants, and tourist, one uncle actually wore the same new year T-shirt as me. What are the odds?