新年快乐
\nGung Hei Fat Choy
\nKung Hei Fat Choy
\nGoing xi fa cai!<\/p>\n
It’s Chinese New Year today, and I realized I don’t really know that much about it. So I interrogated my Chinese-American friends… who weren’t much better!<\/p>\n
\n There are, as would be expected, similarities to the Japanese New Year<\/a> (お正月 = おしょうがつ = o-shogatsu<\/i>).<\/p>\n\nActually, for the record, John is Korean… he was reporting on his girlfriend’s family, which is Chinese.<\/p>\n
\nBRAIN: what chinese goodies are important now?
\nlike during the moon festival you can get moon cake<\/p>\n
CHIA: red envelopes for new year
\nbamboo leaf wrapped rice thing that celebrates some poet killing himself<\/p>\n
JOHN: You eat these veggies that look like long black hair. Not beautiful silky hair, but the wet hair that girl from the Ring had.<\/p>\n
JOHN: the hair thing is for long life.<\/p>\n
JOHN: you also eat lettuce for money.<\/p>\n
CHIA: you’re supposed to have fish at some point<\/p>\n
CHIA: maybe i should wear red today<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Rhys was a lot less lame:<\/p>\n
RHYS: hm, well, in Hong Kong at least, the names of the dishes are homophonic with lucky things… like “dai lay” means big tongue, or big fortune. So a traditional (don’t know how far back this tradition goes….maybe 19th century cantonese?) dish would be something to do with pig’s tongues.<\/p>\n
\nRHYS: “ho see” is good business\/market, and it’s also the same as ‘dried oysters’ so the cantonese eat those.<\/p>\n
\nRHYS: “fat choy” is luck and fortune, but it’s also the same as hair fungus.
\nRHYS: so you have a dish with that<\/p>\n
\nRHYS: then everyone has the dried and candied lotus seeds and lotus roots and melon seeds.<\/p>\n
\nRHYS: candied kumquats… i honestly don’t know [more] then, good stuff. like our thanksgiving meal. you’ve got the staples, and then other good banquety items<\/p>\n
\nRHYS: then there is the red envelopes, of course. do you have a clear idea of how they work?<\/p>\n
\nRHYS: it’s a tradition that is tied to the house visits that you do from the 1st to the 15th of the month: you’re supposed to visit everyone you know during those 15 days<\/p>\n
\nRHYS: the going rate for random kids of acquantances you don’t know at all is probably $3-5.<\/p>\n
\nRHYS: generally, you receive until you get married, or until you’re too ashamed to be flaunting your singleness. Then you start giving to children and single people. But keep in mind people are “supposed” to get married as 22 year olds or younger<\/p>\n<\/div>\n