August Festivals
July 26, 2006There are two festivals in Singapore in August that one cannot escape from:
1) National Day- August 8. The whole of Singapore is awash in a field of red (since the National flag is red and white). A standard of the celebration is the National Day Parade (NDP)which is a big event. Tickets are normally raffled off ahead of time to the public and if you are lucky enough to get a ticket, you might as well strike the lotto draw .The give aways in the goody bag that each NDP ticket holder is given is enough for the tickets to be very precious. and sought after(e.g. discount vouchers, calculators, flashlights, bags etc) Some are even selling off or having it auctioned off in the Ebay and yahoo.
My wife and children had been lucky enough to have watched the National Day Parade for 3 times in a row in 2000,2001 and 2002 just because my wife's company is a sponsor of the parade.
This year is specially memorable since it will be the last time that it will be held in the National Stadium(which is set to be torn down to give way to a bigger more modern stadium).
2)Hungry Ghost festival Month- August is the start of the Hungry Ghost Month when the chinese believe that ghosts of dead relatives are said to roam the earth.
During this month, chinese believe it is bad luck to do so many life changing decisions like moving house, getting married, having a baby or changing jobs.
But despite the gloom in this festival, there is also the getai or stage performances of chinese singers and dancers.The singing at these performances are awfully loud and off key so only those who are tone deaf or extremely bored with their lives would be watching the getai.The audience is usually composed of the old & retired who are fond of hokkien singing, maids who accompany the old and retired, and young children .
Take note that the front row of the audience seats are usually empty. Dont ever attempt to sit down in these chairs since they are reserved for the souls of the dead.
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Lucky you mate!
Posted by IZ Reloaded at July 27, 2006, 1:21 am