Asian Americans and the Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year, The Moon Lady and the Moon Festival
by Molly H. Isham
Chinese New Year At Grandma's House
In the United States, even very assimilated Asian Americans still enjoy celebrating the great holiday of Lunar New Year. In San Francisco, the schools even have off, so many students-- Asian and non Asian-- love to take part. (The only other ethnic holiday as popular is Cinco de Mayo!) The United States Postal Service now issues stamps every year commemorating the new Lunar year, with Chinese calligraphy giving the yearís name, and an appropriate animal symbol.
Every twelve years in the Chinese calendar is a cycle, and each year is represented by an animal symbol. The twelve animals are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Serpent, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Boar. The year 2000 in the western calendar was the Year of the Dragon, 4698th year in the lunar calendar. 2001 is the year of the Snake. Regardless in which part of the world the Chinese people live, they always have a big celebration during the Lunar New Year. I have vivid memories of the Lunar New Year celebrations at my grandmother's place in China in the 1930's.
As a young child I lived with my parents in the British Concession of * Tianjin, north China, better known to westerners as Tientsin. My * Wai Po, maternal grandmother, lived in Peking, today's * Beijing, only a little over an hour away by * Huoche, train. During every major festival, like * Duan Wu Jie, Dragon Boat Festival, or * Zhong Qiu Jie, Moon Festival, my parents and I would go over to Grandma's house for a short stay. But, during * Zhongguo Xin Nian, the Chinese New Year, also called * Yinli Nian, Lunar New Year, we would stay and celebrate for at least a month. Weeks, even months, before the New Year, I would start counting the days and impatiently awaited its arrival.
The preparation for the New Year, actually began on * La Ba, December eighth on the Lunar calendar, and on that day my grandmother would make several big jars of * La Ba Cu ('Cu' is pronounced 'Tsu'), December 8th vinegar. She put a lot of * Suan, garlic, and a little bit of sugar into the dark brown * Zhenjiang vinegar, and they should be ready for consumption on New Year's Eve. Zhenjiang is a city in Jiangsu Province, about 137 miles west of Shanghai, famous for its high quality brown vinegar. She would also cook a big pot of * La Ba Zhou, December 8th porridge, a rice porridge eaten on that day. * La Ba Zhou is sweet, and has eight nourishing ingredients including glutinous rice, lotus seeds, dried Chinese dates, and different kinds of nuts and dried fruit. I remember how I used to love * La Ba Zhou; and if nobody stopped me, I could eat two big bowls of it.
The two weeks after * La Ba would be the busiest time for the women in the household. All the children had to have * Xin Yifu, new clothes, to wear on * Nian Chu Yi, New Year's Day. My mother and * Yima, Aunties, would go from shop to shop buying different color silks, blue for boys and maroon color for girls, to make * Mian Ao, padded jackets and * Mian Ku, padded pants for my cousins and myself. They would usually buy a new coat for Grandma and a fur hat or a warm winter vest for * Wai Gong, maternal grandfather, as well. As a rule, twice a year the family provided all the domestic servants with new clothes, once in Summer, and the other at Chinese New Year. By the time Mother got home with boxes of materials, Grandma's two favorite tailors were already in the sewing room taking the measurements of all the children. I hated to be measured, it took so long, and I was not allowed to move. Even the chirp of a bird would be an excuse for me to run outside, then have my Amah chase after me all around the courtyard.
Grandma loved to shop at the farmers' market, so during those two weeks she would stock up on * Shuiguo, fruits, and * Lingshi, between-meal nibbles, for the * Guo Pan, fruit plate, a big round bowl-shape plate with a lid, twelve to fifteen inches in diameter; it had dividers making it possible for the plate to hold nine different kinds of * Guofu, dried fruits, * Guoren, nuts, and *Guazi, melon seeds. She would take me on most of those trips, and my Amah would go along to help carry the heavy baskets. As a reward for going with her I came back loaded with all sorts of good food and toys. * Dong Shizi, frozen persimmons, has always been one of my favorites; I mixed it with powdered milk, and made it into a persimmon ice cream. This is also the time of year for people to indulge in * Tang Chao Lizi, Chestnuts roasted in sugar and fine sand, and * Kao Baishu, baked sweet potatoes. The vendors would carry their ovens on * Biandan, shoulder poles, and bake them at street corners, the hunger-provoking smell made it irresistible for passers by. As for toys, Grandma would buy me paper dolls, * Budao Weng, a roly-poly fisherman that refused to lie down, and, sometimes, * Jianzi, shuttlecocks, which I learned to kick with the inside of my ankle at a very young age.
On the 23rd of the Lunar December, offerings were laid out on the table for * Zao Wangye, the Kitchen God, and * Zao Wangnainai, the Kitchen God's wife. By evening, a male representative would be chosen to * Ketou, kowtow, to the paintings of the celestial beings who had blessed and protected the kitchen of the family for almost a year (females are not allowed to pay respect to Kitchen Gods). Then came the ceremony of seeing the Kitchen God and his wife ascend to Heaven, i.e., of burning the grease-spotted paintings in the backyard. My cousins and I loved to take part in this ceremony, because, after that we ate all the offerings. The new Kitchen God would not be 'invited' back into the kitchen until the last day of the year. To show respect, when one purchases a painting of the Kitchen God, he cannot use the word 'buy'; instead he says: "I would like to invite a Kitchen God into my house." Of course, he still needs to pay for it.
The next day, the 24th, was the beginning of a thorough house cleaning. Everything in the house was washed, swept, cleaned; all the brass candlesticks, bronze incense holders, and silverware polished. Meanwhile the food preparation went on without any interference. * Zui Ji, drunken chicken, * Xun Yu, smoked fish, * Huo Tui, ham, and various kinds of cold meat were precooked and kept for the New Year's Eve dinner. It was believed that cooking during the first few days of the lunar new year might bring bad luck to the family, so lots of * Baozi, steamed dumplings, * Mantou, steamed buns, and meat and vegetable dishes were prepared on or before the 30th, enough to last the family for a whole week.
Grandma was an exceptionally good cook; she not only mastered the technique of cooking all the well-known northern and southern dishes for everyday meals and for banquets, she also made various different kinds of * Dianxin, snacks, (Please refer to 'The Chinese Expressions in Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club', hereafter, JLC, P.10, Dyansyin). She used to make wonderful * Zongzi, pyramid-shaped dumplings, of various sizes and moon cakes with different fillings. (For more detailed description please refer to JLC, P.71, Zong zi.) Some Zongzi she made were as big as Chinese rice bowls, others as tiny as ping-pong balls, which she strung together for me to hang around my neck, like a necklace. Just before Chinese New Year, she would make three or four different kinds of * Nian Gao, New Year cakes, which were made of sweet glutinous rice flour with walnut, pine nut, sesame seed or bean paste fillings. They were steamed in wooden molds, and when ready, they came out in the shape of a fish, a turtle, a plum flower, a rose, and so on.
The most important dinner is the one on New Year's Eve, called * Tuan Yuan Fan, the family reunion dinner. The southerners in China call it * Nian Ye Fan, New Year's Eve dinner. Since my grandparents were still alive, all my uncles and aunts with their children came to celebrate in the old people's house. The children would sit at a separate table, and have * Fan, rice, * Cai, dishes, and * Tang, soup. They wanted to get through dinner as quickly as possible, so they could attend to their * Bianpao, fire crackers and would not miss the display of the * Yanhuo, fireworks. The adults would start with * Pijiu, beer, and * Hong Putao Jiu, red grape wine, accompanied by the * Pinpan, assorted cold dishes, which would include * Jiang Nurou, beef cooked in soya sauce and the five spices, * Haizhe, jellyfish, shredded and mixed with sauces and green unions, * Pidan, thousand-year eggs, * Bai Qie Ji, white cut chicken, * Pao Cai, pickled green vegetables, * Su Ya, vegetarian duck. The hot dishes would include a huge * Huoguo, hot pot, with meat balls, fish balls and vegetables, * Sixi Rou, Four Happiness Pork, * Quan Ya, whole duck, * Xia, shrimp, and * Qingzheng Yu, steamed fish. Fish is essential on New Year's Eve, because the Chinese word for fish, * Yu, has the same sound as the word 'abundance' or 'surplus'. To eat fish, or to give a present bearing a fish, will bring good luck for the whole year.
When the clock strikes twelve at midnight, the * Jiaozi party begins. This custom is not only observed in the Beijing area, but in many other cities and provinces as well. To make Jiaozi, one uses a round shape wheat flour wrapping, stuff it with meat and vegetables, then fold it in half and press the outer edge together tightly. Jiaozi can be boiled or steamed; on New Year's Eve people usually boil them. There are a dozen different kinds of fillings we use to make Jiaozi; the most popular ones are pork and cabbage, beef and chive, mutton and scallion, and for the vegetarians, pumpkin, fennel, or * Doufu, Tofu, with spinach and mung bean thread.
Now, the whole family once more gathered by the round dining table to share the bowls of steaming hot, freshly cooked Jiaozi. We children were still sweaty from running about dodging the fire crackers, and some of us even came in holding a handful of them. Impatiently we waited in line to wash our hands, and more impatiently we waited for the Jiaozi on our plates to cool down, so we could eat them quickly. The fanciest fireworks went off after twelve o'clock. I remember seeing my uncles carrying them out, some looked like huge Quaker Oats boxes, others were in the shapes of large cookie tins or oversized shoe boxes. Once the uncles lit it, we all stood back and held our breath for what seemed to me to be nearly two minutes before there was any action. Then the bottom fell off, and the box made a hissing sound. The most exciting part was to watch colorful sparks shoot up twenty or thirty feet and gradually turn into a green * Long, dragon with yellow claws, or a bight red * Feng, phoenix with a long tail. My favorite one was called * Tiannu Sanhua, Heavenly Beauty Scattering Flower Petals, in which the beauty kept throwing out flower petals from her basket. The flowers and the basket even had a three-dimensional look to them.
After the fireworks the grown-ups go back to the house to play cards or Mahjong (Please refer to JLC, P.5., Mah jong). We children would be ushered to bed, but before we went to sleep, we had to make sure all the * Ya Sui Qian we got that night were neatly tucked under our pillows. Ya Sui Qian is the money given to children at New Year's for good luck; it comes in a small red envelope, and the Cantonese speaking people call it * Hong Bao.
On the first, second, and third days of the Lunar New Year children follow their parents around calling on relatives and friends to * Bai Nian, wish (them) a Happy New Year. Again the children may get a lot of good luck money from the families they visit. We did not have many relatives to visit in Peking, therefore, my parents would usually take me to a place called *Changdian, similar to a bazaar or a village fair. We watched the * Mu Ou Xi, puppet shows, and ate * Tang Hulu (candy-coated haws strung on a bamboo stick) that were almost three feet long. The Tang Hulu sold in stores were only seven to nine inches long; only at New Year's time, and only in Changdian did they have the extra long Tang Hulu.
At the end of the fourth day of busy activities, everybody was exhausted. A few days of quietness and recuperation was a good change. However, we couldn't rest for long. * Yuan Xiao Jie, the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth of the first Lunar month, was going to be another big celebration. Grandma, my mother and my aunts were busy shopping for ingredients, and making * Yuan Xiao, a small round dumpling, about the size of an American quarter, made of sweet rice flour with black sesame seed, red bean paste, or scented osmanthus fillings. One can easily get these in the stores in San Francisco Chinatown and eat them for breakfast, for a mid-afternoon snack, or as a desert after dinner. They are very filling and having too many of them can cause indigestion.
During that period the children would be picking out their favorite lanterns from the stores--* Long Deng, the dragon lanterns, * Zou Ma Deng, the walking horse lanterns, * Bing Deng, the ice lanterns, or, with the help of older friends, make their own lanterns. On the fifteenth, everybody would be out in the streets with a candle-lit lantern, watching, socializing, eating, or just enjoying the crowd.
Every year, after we got back to Tientsin from Grandma's place, I would be sick for a week or two. But, weighing the gains and losses, I thought the sickness was well worth the fun. When I was seven my parents moved southward to Shanghai, and we never had that kind of a * Re Nao, New Year again. 'Re Nao' literally translates into 'hot and noisy', when describing a place or a situation it means 'bustling with activity and excitement'.
I missed Chinese New Year at Grandma's so much that I often went back in my dreams.