Year of the rooster – Wonderwall

Sheffield street city food market is located, opposite the Co-op which is behind Bistro Pierre / opposite Napoleons.

Previously there has been an event for Halloween and one for Christmas. I went last night: the day before the official Chinese New Year starts. It continues tonight (28th January 2017). The yard and warehouse the event is hosted in, was decorated with pretty lanterns.

Happy Chinese Year of the Rooster

There were three stalls selling Chinese food. I shared 4 duck pancakes for £5. Then from the same stall (with the purple Skipton awning) I had beef and black bean with egg fried rice for £6. There was one stall selling Malaysian curry, appropriate as Malaysia also celebrates Chinese new year. There was also a stalls selling stone baked pizza, mexican, burgers and churros with chocolate for something sweet.

Inside the warehouse there was a bar with a range of beer, wine and spirits. Calling draft was £3.50 but, I upgraded to Bierre Moretto for £4.50. My round also included Black Sheep for £4. Inevitably both were served in plastic glasses. There was also craft beers on the menu which presumably would have come in a bottle at £5.50.

Additionally there was a stall to buy mulled wine.

There was also a prosecco bar. Most people seemed to opt for a bottle which was £18 and came with plastic prosecco flutes, rather than by the glass. Revellers could be seen dancing with prosecco bottles.

There was a female performer who I saw in two outfits performing aerial acrobatics accompanied by a dj and a saxophonists. prior to that Doncaster band with a female singer sang. There was also a photobooth hosted by city taxis where you get photos printed for free as long as you were happy being part of a postcard advertising city taxis – your photos can be cut out from it!

I left about 10pm, when it was starting to become a little chilly in the warehouse , sitting down. I probably needed to dance to warm up albeit in coat and gloves and if I, had of had one a bobble hat! The dancing had been started off by the younger generation (under 10s) but, from about 9pm adults were beginning to join in.

I will definitely keep my eyes open for future events. Ideally it would be good to go on a summers night when my myself and my dancing partner would be able to wear our gladrags and she would have the flexibility of bringing her little one as it was child friendly.

Today 28th January 2017 marks the start of the year of the rooster. Chinese new year has long been celebrated in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. Of course today, it inspires celebrations around the globe.

Celebrating Chinese New Year at Sheffield Street City Food Market avec Music

The timing of the Chinese new year is based upon a lunar calendar and hence the date varies against the Georgian calendar. The chinese new year begins when there is a new moon between 21January and 20th February.

Each year is associated with an animal. As the calendar is different, from the lunar calendar those born in January / February’s Chinese new year birth animal may vary, I recommend if checking Chinese birth animal to use the calculater on the following website, it als provides Chinese horoscope for the year other interesting information.

http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/

The sequence the years of animals is according to the number of claws or hooves they have. The rat is first in the sequence as it is unusual and therefore valued having four toes on front legs and 5 on it’s back. Followed sequentially by ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

Different years are also characterised by a sequence of 12 branches that do not repeat in line with the animals. In Mandarin the 12 branches are zi, chou, yin, mao, chen, si, wu, wei, shen, you. In Cantonese the 12 branches are zi2, cau2, jan4, maau5, san4, zi6, ng5, mei6, san1, jau5. Hence in Mandarin you can be a zi rat, a chou rat etc… A further layer of complexity is years alternate between either being Yin or Yang. Yin and Yang are types of energies they are opposites but, need to exist together.

To simplify celebrations; chines food is delicious. Red is a lucky colour at Chinese new year … as the advert says money is often given in red envelopes. In particular when an individual’s birth year comes around every 12 years, as that is thought of as unlucky for them they should try to counteract that by wearing red.