'Gung Hei Fat Choi!' she uttered in her best pinyin approximation to wishing you a Happy New Year! Today marks the beginning of The Year of the Rabbit, in Chinese traditions.  I spent a very happy few years as a child living in the Far East, primarily in Singapore, with a briefer excursion to Hong Kong later on.

I have very vivid memories of these days, the warmth, the colours, the fragrances, the food, and especially the festivals, when at Chinese New Year, we would be given little red envelopes known as Lai See dollar or Lucky Money in Cantonese by our 'arma' ( that's my best approximation to the term used to describe the Chinese lady who worked for my parents as a nanny and housekeeper).

We had two that I recall, Qui Ki and Tan ay Lan, who I remember best. A tall elegant slender lady, whose skin was folded like leather on her hands and face, belying her relative youth, I always imagined she was at least 100; she was sage, wise and calm.  We spent a considerable amount of time in her company, often ate with her, eating exactly as she did; local peasant  and regional dishes. I recall dried fish and brown shrimps were great favourites of mine.

We would often visit her at the Kampung she lived in, a shanti village on the edge of the Forest, scrump Lychees and Rambutans in season. We ran wild amongst the exotic foliage, chasing brightly coloured birds, and lizards whose tails would fall off in our hands. The lizards, especially chit-chats that were often found on the walls of my parents Bungalow fascinated me. Villages like this are  not seen in Singapore these days, but still to be found on the Malayan Peninsula, and I often daydream about returning one day, and reliving some of those memories.

Tan worshipped   various deities, mostly Buddist type doctrine, but a mix of cultures, much of it based around ancestor worship, and the belief in the spirit world too, a convenient muddle that fitted in with her world view and faith in Nature.

One memory I cherish is based around Chinese New Year. A story she told of tying prayer ribbons to an ancient Banyan tree in the days of her youth back in China. It was as romantic and sad as the Willow Pattern Story, and many other folk tales  she related to us that seemed to come from that part of the world.

We had a beautiful Frangipani tree at the front of our house, and she would encourage us to tie red ribbons, or small red lanterns to it and make a wish, whilst all around you could hear the unmistakable sound of firecrackers warding off bad spirits and welcoming the New Year.  I knew it as 'The Wishing Tree'.

Such practises are still common, not only in the Far East, for just as people there tie wishes and prayers to sacred trees, we do it here too, and ribbons are attached to venerable ancient Yews, or  historical landmarks such as the Glastonbury Thorn. Some times its practised as  coins hammered into such 'Wishing Trees' - often huge fallen trunks covered in many hundred offerings, such as you can find along the river from Tarr Steps in Somerset; a coin is fixed into the tree, and a wish is made.

Today I tied a red ribbon to my Cherry tree ( Prunus cerifera 'nigra')  encouraged by the nascent flower buds, and the bright blue sky, and made a wish  on this auspicious day too; something I have not done since childhood.