Talking Meme February 10: How do you celebrate Chinese New Year with Brian & the kids? (echomyst)
February 10: How do you celebrate Chinese New Year with Brian & the kids? (echomyst)
Happy Chinese New Year! Chinese New Year fell on Thursday, February 19th, this year. Happy Year of the Goat/Sheep.
Leading up to Chinese New Year, we put up red banners with couplets/sayings that herald of properity and luck. We hang ornamental chimes around the house, and lanterns from the ceiling and lights. We put the word "fu" (prosperity) on our two front doors.
On Chinese New Year Eve, we typically have a family dinner feast-- we always eat a whole fish (and make sure we leave leftovers, as in Chinese "having fish" sounds like "having a [financial] balance", i.e. not going into debt), we also have a whole chicken, oranges (sound like the Chinese word for "gold"), apples (they sound like "peace"), dumplings (for wealth), and long noodles (for a long life). We have green vegetables (to symbolize new growth/life) and mushrooms (uhh, I dont know why?) For dessert, we eat tang yuan and other sweets (to symbolize a sweet year ahead).
Before bed, each child gets two hong baos ("red envelopes") to put under their pillow for them to sleep on; one from each parent. I don't know why we do this, but it's always been a family tradition... I think something about a great and wealthy year ahead.
The next day, on Chinese New Year, we wear new clothes, preferably red. My mother used to be very traditional, and it included new socks and new underwear, but I didn't do this with the kids this year; they just wore a new red dress.
On Chinese New Year, we don't say anything mean or bad to each other, or about anyone. We try to avoid hearing anyone cry (including babies). We do not use knives or scissors, lest we accidentally hurt ourselves. We don't take the trash out, as we believe that the Gods of Fortune blesses the house in the night, and you don't want to sweep/vacuum/clean any of the fortune out the door! We don't take showers or wash our hairs on Chinese New Year (Brian doesn't follow this, though. He insists on showering every day....)
.... That's what we normally do.
This year, we didn't do a Chinese New Year feast.
I remembered to at least wear a red shirt, though I didn't get around to buying new clothes.
I cried (though, nowadays I cry almost every day).
We're not even supposed to celebrate Chinese New Year anyway, because we're still in the 100 days of mourning.
Happy Chinese New Year! Chinese New Year fell on Thursday, February 19th, this year. Happy Year of the Goat/Sheep.
Leading up to Chinese New Year, we put up red banners with couplets/sayings that herald of properity and luck. We hang ornamental chimes around the house, and lanterns from the ceiling and lights. We put the word "fu" (prosperity) on our two front doors.
On Chinese New Year Eve, we typically have a family dinner feast-- we always eat a whole fish (and make sure we leave leftovers, as in Chinese "having fish" sounds like "having a [financial] balance", i.e. not going into debt), we also have a whole chicken, oranges (sound like the Chinese word for "gold"), apples (they sound like "peace"), dumplings (for wealth), and long noodles (for a long life). We have green vegetables (to symbolize new growth/life) and mushrooms (uhh, I dont know why?) For dessert, we eat tang yuan and other sweets (to symbolize a sweet year ahead).
Before bed, each child gets two hong baos ("red envelopes") to put under their pillow for them to sleep on; one from each parent. I don't know why we do this, but it's always been a family tradition... I think something about a great and wealthy year ahead.
The next day, on Chinese New Year, we wear new clothes, preferably red. My mother used to be very traditional, and it included new socks and new underwear, but I didn't do this with the kids this year; they just wore a new red dress.
On Chinese New Year, we don't say anything mean or bad to each other, or about anyone. We try to avoid hearing anyone cry (including babies). We do not use knives or scissors, lest we accidentally hurt ourselves. We don't take the trash out, as we believe that the Gods of Fortune blesses the house in the night, and you don't want to sweep/vacuum/clean any of the fortune out the door! We don't take showers or wash our hairs on Chinese New Year (Brian doesn't follow this, though. He insists on showering every day....)
.... That's what we normally do.
This year, we didn't do a Chinese New Year feast.
I remembered to at least wear a red shirt, though I didn't get around to buying new clothes.
I cried (though, nowadays I cry almost every day).
We're not even supposed to celebrate Chinese New Year anyway, because we're still in the 100 days of mourning.