I absolutely love the Chinese New Year holiday. It’s as important to me as Thanksgiving and Christmas. I maybe a little bias since I’m Chinese too, but I remember growing up and seeing my parents imposing the importance of the Chinese New Year traditions and the superstitions that come along with it.
A week before the Chinese New Year, my mom would start preparing our house with festive decorations of red and gold around the house. She’ll clean the entire house every day until the New Year’s Day. We’re not allowed to clean or sweep on New Year’s Day because it’s believed that you’d sweep away your fortune for the year. The house is decorated with red flowers, red and gold good luck postings on the walls, and red trays of delicious candies and sweet treats that symbolize good relationships. Red and gold are important colors to Chinese culture because they symbolize happiness, wealth, and luck. It is also an important time to pay respects to our ancestors and many Buddha gods. My parents would then pick a special day to clean our ancestor’s shrine with incenses, candles, and red wrapping. Then for the next 15 days, it’s daily praying with incense and candle lighting to our ancestors.
Chinese New Year brings joy and excitement for the kids. I know, I was always looking forward to it when I was kid. I got plenty of red envelops (In Cantonese it is called Lai-see) filled with lucky money. The meaning of lai-see is good luck and the person receiving it is being blessed with good fortune. It’s a tradition that if you are unmarried that you’ll receive lai-see for good luck in finding a mate or for younger children to grow up healthy and happy. Now that I’m married, I’m no longer the recipient. The only exception is from my parents, but my kids are enjoying their free allowance money. For each lai-see my kids receive, we, as parents, are to return the luck to our giver’s children. Married couples would often give a pair of lai-see to represent a united couple.
The New Year festival dinners are one of my most favorite parts of the holidays. It’s almost like a Thanksgiving dinner where the whole family returns home for a big dinner gathering. My mom takes pride in preparing a traditional Chinese dinner for the celebration. On the table, it will have at least 8 or 9 dishes of foods where number eight represents good fortune and number nine represents longevity. There must be a several meat dishes, vegetables, a delicacy soup, and sweet desserts. Fish is one of the most important dishes to have because in Cantonese fish it’s called “yu” meaning surplus. There is a Chinese phrase for fish, “ๅนดๅนดๆ้ค – lin lin you yu” meaning surplus every year.
- First dinner, a week before the New Year, a “give thanks dinner to our ancestors for blessing the family for the past year”.
- Second dinner and the most important dinner is the New Year’s Eve dinner where my mom spend almost a whole day preparing the big feast. The foods prepared on this day are all blessed and prayed to our ancestors to reinvigorate us for the new year. It’s also like a respect where you allow your ancestors to eat first.
- Third dinner is the 2nd day of the Chinese New Year celebration. It’s considered the official beginning of the New Year and the day the God of Wealth's visiting your home. Returning home means you are bring wealth into the house.
- The fourth dinner is closing day for the Chinese New Year celebration (the fifteenth day)
I can go on and on talking about Chinese New Year because it is such a significant holiday. I have learned and continued to practice the Chinese culture. It is probably the only tradition I can pass on to my own children.
Happy Chinese New Year
and
Gong Hay Fat Choy (Good Fortune to you)!
