Celebrating Spring Festival abroad

Daniela C (Singapore)

The Chingay parade is a uniquely Singaporean celebration that has grown from being a traditional Chinese New Year procession to being Asia's largest street parade. The name "Chingay" is a Hokkien phrase that means "the art of costume and masquerade". Since the first parade in 1973, Chingay has evolved into a diverse festival with global influences, involving 2,000 performers from Singapore and other countries, such as Ghana, Brazil and Slovenia. To me, Chingay represents the ethnic diversity of Singapore. There are performances from many different ethnic groups and cultures.

A woman prays as she offers joss sticks at the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple in Singapore Feb 18, 2015. Each year, at the stroke of midnight, hundreds of people vie to be the first to place joss sticks in an urn at the temple to mark an auspicious start to their year. [Photo/Agencies]