Happy New Year! (Again)

From my reference point, Chinese or Lunar New Year is celebrated as a combination of Fourth of july, Christmas, and Western New Year. It combines fire works, presents, traveling home to be with family, big meals, and traditions for starting over again.

I’ll admit, my whole China-through-illiterate-osmosis theory isn’t quite living up to expectations. . I feel that I’ve learned more about Chinese culture from them this past week than I’ve been able to pick up in China over the past 6 months. It has been such a joy to be a part of Chinese New Year with my family

On New Year’s Eve, (Feb. 2nd) my Aunt Ann had me helping like a family member, doing dishes, wrapping fruit in red and gold sticker ribbons for good luck offerings to the altars, and tying knots in dried golden mushrooms. The bag had probably 500, and each needed to be tied, and then the hard ends had to be cut off individually with scissors. I felt like an old housewife, one who would sit around churning butter by hand while the men sit at your same table drinking beer without offering to help. (cough, uncles cough) Of course, I was grateful for my part in the process, and I did less than nothing compared to the feast-making of my Aunts and grandmother.

Aunty also gave me a lighted incense stick and told me to hold it up to the altar and pray to my ancestors, and to make a wish for the coming year before putting it inside. The next day the families put large incense “sticks” on the front lawn, that are about 16 inches in circumference. They also put a big metal can in the middle of the driveway, lit with flames.

New Year’s Eve dinner with my family is really lunch, beginning at 12. We had mushrooms with chicken, fried pork, rice, dried sausages, steamed vegetables, whole fish with chives and ginger, and a warm turnip-pork-fish dish that you wrap in a lettuce leaf to eat.

There are also a lot of traditional cookies and chips that are made from scratch at this time. “Love letters” taste like coconut crepes that have been folded into quarters and deep fried. There are cookies that taste mostly of flour or sometimes have a bit of coffee to it. My favorite treat was the hand-made chips made of a thick root that tastes like the mixed-child of a potato and plantain.

I ate my fill, and then sat around with my uncles continuing to drink beer. I’ll spare you the long-winded details of lying and teasing, with this summary:

Most inappropriate long-running topic: tiger show (i.e. Thai-girl show), a “married couple” having sex, and a repeated offer to take Kelly and I that night.