Lunar New Year

Raphael, Y10

The Lunar New Year serves the same purpose as any other festival, that is to get together and have a good time. The phrase 'Chinese New Year' is often wrongly associated with Lunar New Year as a whole, as other nations also celebrate the warming festivities.

Lunar New Year itself originates from ancient agricultural methods of using the moon rather than the sun to keep track of the passing of time - other ancient cultures outside of East Asia, such as the Mayans, also utilised this method. This is increasingly important as mostly the Southern parts of China did agriculture.

Alongside this, there is a myth of a monster called Nian (which literally translates to year in Chinese), where the monster terrorised a village long ago, and to scare it away, firecrackers and red decorations were put up (reminds me of Spanish bulls). This has led to the tradition of putting red strips of paper with nice four-word idioms on them, which are very self-explanatory.

As for this year, it is the Year of the Tiger, which originates from another story, where God (not the Christian God, just a general King of the Gods) organized a race and, in order of the first 12 animals (including the dragon), years were named after them.

For celebrations, aside from firecrackers, in lots of places there are lion and dragon dances, where lion costumes are put on and the lions (people) dance to the clamour of drums and cymbals. Fireworks are common as well. Another thing are the New Year markets, where they are open at night and sell flowers such as white narcissus. Windmills are also widely sold, but the crowd can be overwhelming.

Food serves as one of the most important components of Lunar New Year. Cantonese cuisine is widely enjoyed, and contrary to popular belief, dim sum are not the main courses. Fish is also enjoyed as Hong Kong is a fishing community, and because fish is also phonetically similar to left (as a verb), symbolizing that there is money left after each year. (This is similarly confusing as the phonetic sound of fish can also mean dumb, with, feather, happy, meet, addiction of alcohol, rain, and many more meanings, but all with different characters) Noodles are also enjoyed, as they represent long life (since noodles are long), alongside staples such as crispy pork, soup, etc…

Some other years hot pot is eaten, and I know you’re thinking of British hot pot, but what I mean is a literal pot placed on a stove with meat, seafood and tofu cooked in a warm broth for hours. This tradition originated from beyond the Qing Dynasty, where the Emperor ordered a grand feast, a hot pot for each high-ranking officials, with everybody sitting round the table and enjoying the feast. This tradition is also present in other Asian cultures, where the winters are harsh. Although, hot pot is enjoyed even in summer, especially by the Hong Kong population, present company included. Dipping sauces vary from nation to nation, but the main way of cooking stays relatively the same. Another dish is Poon Choi, including vegetables and meat at the bottom of the plate and seafood like abalones at the top. Some say this originates from when in the sunset of the Southern Sung dynasty, the young emperor escaped to Hong Kong, and as the locals were poor but honored, they whipped up their best seafood, but without anything else to serve, they put vegetables in the bottom and stacked it up.

My extended family also enjoy gluing their sights onto the telly for an extended amount of time in-between meals. Certain reruns of New Year related films are broadcast as well as gambling related shows and mahjong, as are some now politically sensitive comedy films.

However, perhaps what rises each year from the clamour are the red packets/red envelopes filled with money. This is especially special for the children, as the elders are often obliged to give red packets to the younger generation. Across Lunar New Year’s Eve, some parents give their younger children red packets to put under their pillows, and red packets are not allowed to be opened until the 5th day. But in order to receive packets, children must show respect to the elders by wishing them some kind of fortune in the new year, with the most common ones being health, fortune, youth and beauty.

Bonus fact: The number 3 is good luck and 4 bad, seeing to that 3 and 4 respectively are phonetically like birth and death. - Raphael, Year 10