“Let’s ride our Tigers and face present, coming challenges
this Year of the Tiger!”
Despite the tumultuous times brought by the COVID19 pandemic, people from all walks of life are still hoping for good luck, better health, and long life this Chinese New Year.
Even without the traditional noisy, colorful, and joyful dragon and dragon dances, life goes with the selling of trinkets, fruits (especially that of oranges and apples), cakes like the famous “Tikoy” rice cake and mungbean cake “Hopia”, Chinese restaurants like “Waying” and “YingYing” that’s full of life with customers, to that of temples both private and public bustling with well-wishers seeking good luck in front of their gods and ancestors. Even the Longos cross is also filled with wellwishers as joss sticks and prayers been offered to the cross known for fusing Chinese folk religion and that of Roman Catholicism.And to think that life is thriving this Chinese New Year, then of course the government is trying their best to control the situation especially after Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso has forbidden the traditional dragon and lion dances in the district in order to guard against the quick spread of the Omicron variant.
But this doesn't stop people from bustling over the streets of Binondo seeking for well wishes, gifts, or even a bite of Chinese food that's mouthwatering.
To be honest, regardless of the situation would say that people will always seek for well wishes, and there's nothing new in it. Except that in a time when health and safety became an outmost priority, people added those desires in their prayers aside from good luck in this year of the tiger. Again, it is not surprising for the fact that as these people enjoying the festivities be it from their homes or in the street, That courage, confidence, and determination to see the future has taken its place with people trying their best not just to survive COVID19 but also to recover from the losses brought by this recent catastrophe. For sure by those times everyone checks their schedule for an upcoming vaccination if not walking straight to the vaccination site just to get a jab in order to get back into their jobs, in school, and in life.
Need not to write further, but perhaps praying for luck nor adorning things to dispel misfortune is not enough these days, but instead "to ride the tiger" as everyone prepares for potential dangers, to have a long term view of things, and that even in this calm times, keeping a homeland to forge, learn, plough further means not just to recover from the crisis nor to become “rich and strong” as its neighbours, but also to rejuvenate a nation.