Chinese New Year 101 - A Foreigner's Guide to a wonderful CNY

Xin Nian Hao （新年好）!  Happy Chinese New Year!

It's that time of the year when you wonder where this year has gone. This year has flown by so quickly that before you even realise, it's already 2016, the Year of the Monkey!

Over the past year, my boss has told me numerous times that I'm like a monkey at work - at least I now have a legitimate reason to explain why I'm acting like one.

  
Asians are quite superstitious (at least I am). At the end of every single year, we would spend many days hours collecting things/food which symbolise good luck and prosperity to prepare for the new coming year. But there are some things you can't get in Australia during this time of the year - so what do we do? Well here's an Australian adaptation.

How to have a wonderful new year:
An Australian Adaptation 

To ensure that a wonderful year lies ahead, you will need:

PLANTS/MISCELLANEOUS

1. Red Gladioli (劍蘭)
During CNY, these flowers have another name, 步步高升 - which means rise up slowly, step by step. The reason why it's given this name is because the gladiolus flowers open sequentially, starting from the bottom of the stalk, with the upper buds opening several days later. It is a symbol of slow step-by-step progression and success. I don't know about you but I would much rather super fast progression rather than step-by-step. Guess you don't fall as hard if you rise to the top slowly rather than instantly... 

2.Lucky Bamboo (富貴竹)

Lucky Bamboo symbolises prosperity and it's believed that bamboo attracts auspicious chi energy.

What? I want to be very prosperous..

 

3. Red Packets (利事)

Red packets are traditionally given by married couples or elders to juniors for good luck, a smooth-sailing year and good health.

The envelopes will generally have an image of an auspicious Chinese character or the animal of the year. You could probably tell my parents were being very environmentally friendly and using envelopes from a few years ago.

4.Something red and purple (大红大紫)

In Hong Kong, the figurative meaning of the proverb "大红大紫" is "becoming a very prominent person". The literal translation of that phrase is "big red and big purple". 

Red symbolises good fortune and joy. That is why everything is red during CNY - for example red packets, Chinese couplets, and Fai Chuns.

Hopefully I will become very famous after wearing this.

Though I'm not quite sure if this is considered purple...

 

FRUITS

 

1. Tangerine (橘/桔子)

Tangerine sounds similar to the word "luck" in Chinese and the bright orange colour symbolises gold. This is why you will find tangerines everywhere during CNY in Hong Kong.

Yes I know this is not a tangerine but they're not in season in Australia at the moment. So this was the best I could find. Close enough...

2. Peach Blossom (桃花)

Peach blossoms symbolise growth, prosperity, longevity and romance. Because of this, peach blossoms are especially popular with single people who decorate the house with pink peach blossoms in the hopes of finding love in the coming year.

They're also extremely popular with businessmen as the proverb "大展宏圖 " which means exhibiting your ambitions and success sounds similar to exhibiting "red peaches".

Unfortunately, peach trees bloom in the spring (and it's summer over here) so I had to make do with this instead.

Well exhibiting a big box of red peaches is definitely better, right?
It's big, it's red, and it's juicy!

 

FEAST

 

1. Big Round Table

On Chinese New Years Eve, family members would get together to celebrate and have a "reunion dinner" (團年飯). The Chinese word for reunion is 團圓, which sounds the same as the Chinese word for circle. A circle also symbolises unity, oneness and perfection.

You can tell whether someone is Asian just by looking at their household items - they'll be nicely wrapped in Plastic so that it remains brand new (refer to picture above). Alternatively you can probably tell by looking at the person. Lol.

2. Vegetarian Meal for the First Meal

This has already been covered in detail in my CNY blog last year

3. A big feast with plenty of leftovers (abundance)

Well it's always good to start off the year with plenty of food right? Of course it's better to have an abundance as compared to not having enough for the rest of the year.

4. Fish

In Cantonese, fish (魚) sounds like surplus. Eating fish is believed to bring a surplus of money or good luck in the coming year.

Well my parents decided to get abalone this year instead. I was told that the Chinese word for abalone (鮑魚) sounds like "guaranteed surplus" in Chinese (包有餘). #raisedeyebrows

Abalone

plus

Sea Cucumber 海参 sounds like 生, the Chinese word for "give birth".
This symbolises that a family may be blessed with a new-born in the new year.

=

A delicious seafood platter

5. Chicken

I'm not too sure why but we always eat it whole for CNY.

6. Big Ox Tongue (牛脷)
Ox Tongue 脷 sounds like 利, the Chinese word for lucky. So if you eat a BIG Ox Tongue (大脷), it means you would be extremely lucky for the coming year (大吉大利).

DESSERTS/TREATS 

 

1. New Year Cake (年糕)

Nian Gou, also known as Chinese New Year cake, is a sweet and sticky dessert made from glutinous rice, and is generally eaten during Chinese New Year because it symbolises good luck. The word Nian means year, and the word Gou sounds similar to higher/taller, so the Asians believe that by eating Nian Gou, you would get a "higher year". In other words, by eating this cake, children would grow taller and adults would get promotions.

Kindly given to me from a colleague who recently went to Singapore:
 

The words say "Five Blessings Knock on my door"

2. Ferroro Easter Eggs

No reason at all - I just love them and Mr Cookie got them for me.

3. Take Annual Leave and give yourself a treat

To ensure that I have a perfect start to the year, I took 2 days off to write blogs do what I enjoy. And that is eating and sleeping :).

Time to have a break and have a Kit Kat Ferroro Easter Egg.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Disclaimer: The Food Extinguisher bears no responsibility if you don't have a smooth sailing year after following these instructions.