I remember when I was five or six years old, my father got ready to light some firecrackers on the eve of Chinese New Year. All the neighbours along our street at Jalan Chempedak in Sembawang Hills Estate would do the same. I remember this particular event only because my father had gotten some extra large and long firecrackers. He must have made a pact with the neighbours to usher in the Lunar New year with a really big bang because Old Uncle Goh across the road had a similar string of them, as did Uncle Teo a few houses down the road. The string of crackers was so long it had to be strung at the top of a bamboo pole. Daddy hung that pole over the front gate. Mother told us to come into the house because it would be noisy. I didn't listen to her because of all the excitement of staying up late and watching the neighbours get ready as well.
On cue, just before midnight, daddy lit the white twine that bound the crackers and suddenly,"Snap! Bang! Crack!" It seemed as if the night was torn in two! The fiery tip of the string of crackers sizzled and jumped with explosions that sent me running to my mother in her room at the back of the house. I distinctly remember being terrified. I ran for my life and buried my head under her pillow to stifle the noise. But no amount of blankets and pillows could shut out the noise as neighbour after neighbour let loose their firecrackers. The noise exploded in my head, deafening my ears with ripping explosions.
The next morning, we awoke to a world still hazy with residual smoke. In our matching new dresses and straw bags for ang pows, my sister and I gingerly stepped out onto a street layered with the fragmented pieces of red firecracker paper. It stirred as the wind blew and mixed with morning dew, stained the streets a crimson red. The faint odour of gunpowder and incense wafted across our senses, imprinting Chinese New year on our minds in a way we will never get to sense now.
Article migrated from original My Story Portal 2007.
Author. Mountofolives