FGS South Island Welcomed Auspicious 2019 Chinese New Year by Hosting a Reunion Dinner
To enable the people of Christchurch to gather and celebrate prior to the 2019 Chinese New Year, on 26th January 2019, Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island hosted a “Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner”, attended by more than 100 people. Among the guests of honour were the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Christchurch Wang Zhijian, Christchurch Artists Suzy Abbott and Sarah Deans, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island Advisor John Lai and BLIA South Island President Bernie.
The celebration started with a video presentation of Master Hsin Yun’s Chinese New Year Message, followed by a presentation of “FGS South Island Activity Report” reviewing the many activities in the past year carried out between FGS South Island and the Artists and the local community. Following this, FGS New Zealand Abbess Venerable Manshin together with other Venerables then led the congregation in a blessing ceremony. In her speech, Abbess Manshin shared with the audience her “4 New Aspirations” for the new year, namely: New ideas, New beginning, New styles and New vows, and encouraged the audience to energize their lives with these “4 New Aspirations” so as to live their lives to the fullest.
Addressing the audience, the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Christchurch Wang Zhijian remarked that he was very happy to be able to join this year’s FGS South Island Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner again. Consul General Wang praised FGS South Island for their services rendered to the local community, particularly their great contributions in the promotion of multiculturalism, education and charity work. In his speech, BLIA South Island President Bernie thanked BLIA volunteers for their relentless efforts in executing the tasks assigned to them which they have successfully completed. President Bernie encouraged BLIA members to make good use of Master Hsing Yun’s wisdom to achieve the goals set out in Humanistic Buddhism.
At the Buddha Hall, members of BLIA Young Adults Division (YAD) New Zealand added to the joyous atmosphere by performing the New Year skewed dance and the hand-gesture performance. During the course of the function, the guests were taken by surprise by a sudden blast of drum beatings, followed immediately by the appearance of a Dancing Lion. To bless the guests, the Lion Dancers unveiled a scroll with Master Hsing Yun’s calligraphy, “Always Well-rounded and Auspicious” and the guests responded to this act with a round of applause. As for the dinner, the guests, in particular the Artists, were able to enjoy the vegetarian food in a joyous atmosphere and they expressed their satisfaction over the delicacies served.
Whilst the dinner was in progress, the guests were entertained to several popular songs by singer David Barnett and his son Liam Barnett who played the guitar. Nearing the end of the dinner, BLIA YAD members again took to the stage with skewed dance. The highlight of the event was when the guests of honour joined the YAD members in the dance when the song “Fo Guang Shan is my Home” was played.
At the end of the celebration, Abbess Manshin presented the guests with Master Hsing Yun’s calligraphy “Always Well-rounded and Auspicious” and thanked them for their participation. The guests of honour, particularly the Artists, were elated and grateful to be able to come to FGS Temple to experience the authentic Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner celebration. The night finally ended in a joyous mood with Abbess Manshin inviting the guests to come back to the Temple during Chinese New Year Eve and Chinese New Year Day to participate in more activities.