“Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life.” – Confucius
“Gong Hey Fat Choy,” that means Happy New Year in
Chinese and today is Chinese New Year’s. If I didn’t mention it already, I am
part Chinese.
Each year my family and I celebrate the New Year
with a big meal, a family gathering, and yummy treats. Traditionally, we have
our big dinner on the eve of the New Year. When we were all younger my
grandmother would spend days preparing dishes and the entire eve cooking. Now
we still have a family gathering with lots of food but we choose dishes that
don’t require as much prep and work. We have our big meal the day before
because you’re not supposed to work on New Year’s day; you’re supposed to rest.
We get little red envelopes with money in them at our dinner; if you are
married you have to give the envelopes but if you are single and have never
been married, you receive them. The way my family celebrates may not be how all
Chinese families celebrate but it’s what’s I’ve always known and so I follow
all of the family traditions as best as I can. Another thing that my family
does is that when you go to someone’s house that is Chinese after New Year’s
day, you have to bring oranges, don’t ask me why, it’s just something that we
have always done and I have always seen. A lot of the time we bring and receive
a Chinese grapefruit called a Pomelo; it is very yummy.
Another thing that people pay close attention to is
the Chinese Zodiac Calendar. Certain signs mean certain things and are said to
represent how others see you to be or how you see yourself. This year is the
year of the Horse. There are 12 different signs to be born under, some the
Chinese think are better and luckier than others. I think it’s cool to see what
animal all the people I know are and if they are anything like their signs.
On a side note, I thoroughly enjoy watching Flower Drum Song every Chinese New
Year; it’s my own little movie tradition.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Samantha
No comments:
Post a Comment