BY JANIE TAN POO CHOO
Chinese New Year is celebrated over 15 days with the festivities coming to a close with Chap Goh Meh, which is the Chinese equivalent to Valentine’s Day.
The Chinese zodiac is based on a 12-year cycle with each year tied to an animal. The 12 animals in the cycle are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Each of these animal signs carries a meaning of its own.
For the Chinese community, the first day of Chinese New Year signifies the starting point of their new fortunes. The celebrations are filled with customs and traditions conforming to the beliefs and superstitions practised by their ancestors.
This year will the Year of the Boar, which is the last animal sign in the Chinese zodiac.
My family’s preparations for Chinese New Year usually began a month earlier with a spring cleaning session. The entire house would be washed, scrubbed and cleaned to get rid of dirt and dust.
Only when the house was spic and span would we put up our brand new curtains. A fortnight before Chinese New Year, we would get a contractor to provide a fresh coat of paint to our house. We believed that a thorough cleansing of the house would help us get rid of bad luck and keep our door open to good fortune.
On the first day of Chinese New Year, the brooms were kept out of our sight as we did not want to “sweep away” the good luck that came our way. Washing our hair on the first day was also forbidden as doing so would be equivalent to washing away the good fortune that was showered on us that day.
All our debts had to be settled before the first day to avoid being saddled with debts throughout the new year.
The container where we stored rice would be refilled and plastered with pieces of red-coloured paper on which the characters for the Cantonese word ‘moon’ were printed. ‘Moon’ means “blessed with food the whole year”.
My late parents used to stress the importance of preserving traditional Chinese elements. A few days before Chinese New Year, they would put up decorations which they believed would bring good tidings and blessings.
Apart from a pair of red lanterns, the decor would also include a red ribbon that was pasted on the main door of our house and paper cuttings in the shape of Chinese characters – symbolising good luck and blessings – that were pasted on the walls.
Red decorative paper with gold-coloured coating and displaying the “fook” (which in Cantonese means luck) character would also be exhibited around the house and on the main door.
Another favourite decoration of my parents was the kumquat plant. There would be eight pots of the plant, each eight-foot tall and laden with the orange-coloured fruit. It is believed that the kumquat plant attracts an abundance of wealth and riches. In Cantonese, kumquat or “kam” means gold which symbolises wealth and financial gain.
My folks would also buy pineapple plants as they denote positive elements. Pineapple is known as “wong lai” in Cantonese, which means “luck is coming”.
My parents also used to highlight the floral element, with the auspicious flowers being lotus and red and yellow chrysanthemum flowers that signify hope, peace and tranquility.
Although I grew up in a Malay village, Kampung Selayang Baru in Selangor, we faced no obstruction when our family got together to celebrate our new year.
On Chinese New Year’s eve, the family reunion dinner takes place and it is our belief that this event spells the end of all bad tidings.
Where my family was concerned, the night before Chinese New Year held more significance than the first day of the new year. This is because the eve marks the start of our celebrations – it is the time when familial bonds are strengthened by family members who may not have seen each other for a long time.
For me, the eve was when I was most happy and excited. No matter where my five older brothers were, they always made sure they returned home for the Chinese New Year’s eve reunion dinner to be with their parents and me, their youngest and only sister.
The eve would see us siblings staying awake till the early hours of the following morning because the Chinese believed that in doing so, the children would be rewarded by God for their loyalty to their parents who, in turn, would enjoy increased longevity.
Chinese New Year is also incomplete without the reunion dinner. We would all dress in new red-coloured outfits. It is our belief that red not only attracts blessings and good luck, it also keeps evil spirits at bay. And, new clothes symbolise a fresh start and renewed hope.
As for our get-together meal, all the dishes served are rich with symbolism and follow the traditions of our ancestors.
“Yee sang” is a compulsory raw fish salad dish as it symbolises luxury, unity and an abundance of blessings the whole year round. “Yee” in Cantonese means fish which is a symbol for eternal wealth. “Sang” means raw and also resurgence.
The family members would use their chopsticks to toss the salad, throwing the ingredients high in the air while shouting “lou sang” and “lou hei aaa” in Cantonese repeatedly in the hope of attracting good health, more prosperity and a better life.
My family believed that the higher the ingredients are tossed and raised, the better it is for our health.
Other important dishes in the reunion dinner menu include “sau min” or longevity noodles and “nin ko” or “kuih bakul” which represents success in life.
Fish or “yue” in Cantonese is also a must-serve item as it symbolises an “abundance of supply till the end of the year”, as well as an abundance of good luck and profits in the coming year. Not to be left out is the prawn dish. Known as “har” in Cantonese, prawns mean being cheerful and full of laughter always.
Other dishes include “sang choi”, a type of salad that signifies fertility and good health and black “faat choy” (black hairy moss) that denotes affluence. Then, there are also the spring onion or ‘chung’ and celery or ‘sai kan’ dishes that stand for wisdom and diligence respectively.
Every year, without fail, my late father would set off firecrackers at midnight when we ushered in the new year. Firecrackers were not only mandatory but added more excitement to the festival. My father would seek a police permit to light the firecrackers one month prior to the Chinese New Year celebration.
The 88-foot-long (the number 88 signifies great wealth) string of firecrackers would be made to dangle from the fifth floor of our house to the ground. We believed that the deafening sound of the exploding crackers would drive away bad luck and misfortune, as well as chase out spirits and evil entities from our house.
We would also adorn our house with eight vases of red chrysanthemum flowers, eight vases of yellow chrysanthemums and eight potted kumquat plants. The number eight is considered auspicious because in Cantonese its pronunciation sounds like the word ‘wealth’.
Early in the morning on the first day of Chinese New Year, I would receive red packets with money inside (known as “ang bao”) from members of my family who were older than me and married.
The giving of “ang bao” is a tradition practised by our elders to shower their blessings on the younger generation and pray for their well-being.
The amount of cash inside the red packet has to be an even number as cash amounting to odd numbers are only given out at funerals.
In my family, RM4 “ang bao” was a definite no-no because in Cantonese the numeral four sounded like the word “dead”. – Bernama
• Janie Tan Poo Choo, is a civil servant who enjoys writing. She shares how she celebrated this
festival whilst growing up.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
