Chinatown During the Festive Season

There are several signs that a festival is approaching. Red lanterns have been strung across the street overhead, and the stalls lining both sides are filled with festive goods and decorations rather than everyday items. There are more shoppers than usual walking through, many carrying bags. What I also noticed is that the shopkeepers have brought their goods right out to the front of their shops, which they usually only do during the festive period.

My family goes to the Chinatown market before Chinese New Year every year. The streets are so crowded that we have to walk in single file, and my mother always warns us to hold our bags in front. Last year we bought bak kwa from a stall with a queue that went around the corner, and my father insisted it was worth the forty-minute wait. I am not sure it tasted different from any other bak kwa, but the trip itself has become part of the festival for us.

I feel these streets matter because they turn a private celebration into a shared one. Families of all races walk through the same market, taste the same snacks and see the same decorations, so a festival becomes something the whole country experiences rather than only the community celebrating it. They also connect us to the past, since the same streets have been decorated this way for generations. Most importantly, in a city that changes very quickly, these traditions give Singaporeans something that stays the same each year.