Rat statues, Jesus icons for Manila's Chinese

By Manny Mogato

MANILA (Reuters Life!) - With red lanterns and Lunar New Year banners swinging in the breeze, Manila's bustling Chinatown looks like any other welcoming the Year of the Rat -- except for the Virgin Mary and child Jesus icons.

Jewellery store owner Tammy Chua is one of hundreds who start the day with a prayer at a Roman Catholic church in Chinatown, before hurrying back to open her small shop.

"I don't see any conflict in me being a Catholic and doing what we Chinese practice during Lunar New Year," Chua said.

The 75-year-old has set up a stall of Lunar New Year sticky rice cakes, and expects brisk business over the next few days, as one million ethnic Chinese in the Philippine capital celebrate the Lunar New Year with fireworks, dragon dances and feasting.

Like most businesses in the area, Chua's shop prominently displays figures of rats in various shapes and colors, to signify the coming year.

But an icon of the child Jesus Christ, Santo Nino is also in the shopfront. Other shops have icons of the Virgin Mary, another popular symbol of the Roman Catholic faith.

"It's not just for luck, it's a symbol of my family's strong devotion to God," Chua told Reuters, pointing to a three-foot-tall Sto. Nino in green robes at the main door.

"I was born and baptized a Catholic, but I could not abandon the practices handed down to me by my ancestors," she said.