Three years on, The Great Digitisation of celebrations
AND so out goes the Ox, in comes the Tiger – and it seems the beautiful beast just slipped in on a whisper, rather than a roar, in real life. In the virtual world, well, that’s another story and I am convinced that by next year, with or without a pandemic, some of us will be celebrating Lunar New Year in the metaverse.
Already, with varying degrees of social restrictions in place throughout Asia, where there are billions of people marking the Lunar New Year, celebrations seem to be more intense digitally than physically.
Never have I seen so many memes, GIFs and videos of tigers flying around on social media and chat feeds, definitely more so than during the Ox year – perhaps the majestic tiger is more inspiring than the humble ox which we see everyday toiling in our fields (the 40% of us who still live in rural areas, that is) or maybe it’s just part of the Great Covid Acceleration.
There are tigers dancing, stalking, rocking and rolling, climbing over walls (that one went really viral, and came in a three-part serial), and dressed in yoga outfits, batik prints or Japanese kimonos. On Tik Tok, a cat puts on a tiger mask and a kid’s voice to wish everyone a year of abundance. There’s even a Hainanese video doing the rounds, packed with old-folk wisdom, that made my mother roar with laughter.
Commenting on this outpouring of creativity on social media to a friend, I said, “People clearly have too much free time.”
She replied, “What to do? It’s the only way we can celebrate.”
It’s worth noting that for the billions of people living in Asia, who mark the Lunar New Year, including the 1.4 billion in China, it’s the third Lunar New Year in a pandemic – with varying restrictions in place depending where you are.
It’s also worth noting that for us in Asia, this is usually one of the busiest travel periods as people either travel to get “home” for celebrations or travel to escape having to celebrate at home.
Despite the restrictions still in place on travel between neighbouring countries, it is good to see quite a handful of “defiant warriors” travelling out there – those eager to visit family regardless and those needing a break otherwise … I salute you.
I looked into the possibility of taking a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flight to Kuala Lumpur, taking a car ride to Penang, then returning to Kuala Lumpur for a VTL flight home and I gave up – firstly, the flights are full – there’s still a 50% quota on VTL flights in place in Singapore – and secondly, the rules … testing at every stage of the trip, pre-departure, on-arrival and on return, up to seven days of tests.
The rules don’t make sense anymore – why is Kuala Lumpur considered safer than Penang …
I can now hardly recall what celebrations are like in the real world. My memories of crowded temples in Penang where the incense smoke is so thick it make you cry, of noisy and boisterous feasts in restaurants, of exploding firecrackers and shooting fireworks are hazy at best. I recall once being in Hainan Island during Lunar New Year and the firecrackers and fireworks that went off everywhere were enough to frighten away any tigers.
Living in Singapore where dining is still restricted to five in a group, and you’re allowed five unique visitors a day, Chinese New Year celebrations have been splintered to say the least.
In restaurants, the traditional “yu sheng” (Prosperity Toss) reunions are muted and masked affairs. In one restaurant, we were told we couldn’t stand up to “toss” but could remain unmasked. In another, we were told to mask up but we could stand up.
I wish we could toss these rules away just like some countries seem to be doing – like the UK, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway which are making moves to live with Covid and get on with life.
The Tiger walks among a very divided world these days – some are still on zero-Covid strategy, some have moved to zero-rules, then there’s the grey zone, with several shades in between, that we in Asia seem suspended in.
However I feel as though we in Asia are waking up from a long slumber. My in box is being filled with news from destinations in Asia Pacific opening up. Even Tourism Western Australia, one of the most closed destinations, recently hosted an event in Singapore of its 50 key partners to share the launch of its new $185 million “Reconnect WA” package to help attract Singaporean visitors back to the state once the travel borders have been lifted.
The Gold Coast, to which Scoot is commencing flights this month, is also laying out the welcome mat.
In South-east Asia, the Philippines has followed Cambodia in opening completely to vaccinated travellers. Thailand has resumed quarantine-free travel schemes, Malaysia could follow suit. Indonesia has announced the opening of Bali to overseas visitors and the resumption of international flights – still with a four-night, five-day quarantine.
Yes, we are seeing the beginnings of the return of travel. Even New Zealand is stirring, saying perhaps we could visit as tourists come October 2022. By then, the Tiger would be nearing the end of his reign but better late than never.
For now, we have to be contented with celebrating in the Lunar New Year quasi-metaverse we have created for ourselves.
By the way, can you imagine what a cool metaverse it could be with the 12 animal characters of the Chinese zodiac and all the storytelling you could do around them, from crouching tigers to hidden dragons.
If you believe in “fengshui” (geomancy), each year brings its own fortune and luck to different animal signs and no Chinese worth his or her salt would go through a year without consulting the “almanac”. Ping me if you wish to know what’s in store for you …
Imagine. We could be our own animal avatar, find our perfect animal match, pair up to fight the evil monsters … think of the NFT “red packets” which could be minted. I can’t wait for my first cryptocurrency “ang pow” (red packet).
I am sure as I write this, there is already someone working on it or there are already versions of it in play …
And think about this, Lunar New Year 2023 will be the Year of the Rabbit. Think of all the rabbit stories that could be told …
I can’t wait. But first, let’s not hop ahead of ourselves. Let’s get through this Tiger year together, the year when travel returns to and across Asia.
Featured image credit: Getty Images
