How you Can Celebrate Chinese New Year Even If you Aren’t Chinese

Lunar New Year officially launches February 17, but fans of this holiday plan well before.  There are family members and friends to contact to arrange visits. Homes should be cleaned and swept in order to start the year anew.  There are proverbs and decorations to post inside and outside with themes of health, wealth, and prosperity.  There are fresh bills in denominations of $1s, $5s, and $10s to acquire from the local bank to insert in red envelopes also known as hung bao or lai see. And finally, there are new clothes to buy. (Yes, new clothes!).            

If you want to adhere to strict beliefs, you gather with your loved ones the night of New Year’s Eve which would be Monday, Feb. 16. This is called the Reunion Dinner. Recalls my friend Becky Wong of Los Gatos, “My mom would make a lot of food before the first day of the new year, so by then there was no need to cook.”   

           A typical celebration includes eight dishes because the word “eight” sounds like prosperity in Cantonese.  Since China is such a huge country, various provinces and regions have their own take on the most important foods.  In the Cantonese culture, we feast that night on a whole steamed fish symbolizing abundance. On the menu is a steamed chicken, complete with head and tail and legs and feet for unity. On the table should be long noodles that are not cut at any time during the meal because you don’t want to cut your life short. Folks also eat neen goh sticky rice cake. Neen means year and goh means tall, so this food means you will continually rise higher in your career or academics. You can enjoy dumplings and spring rolls signifying wealth as they are shaped like gold ingots.  The Chinese feast also calls for lovely plated dishes of spinach or other leafy greens for growth.    

Either before or after the evening meal, the grandparents, parents, and married couples will hand out pairs of red money envelopes to children and single adults.  Two envelopes mean double the prosperity and fortune, so who will argue with that?  Bills must be fresh so you can have a fresh start for the year. And you never put in $4 or $40 or $400 as the number four sounds like death in Chinese.

            And if all this sounds too overwhelming in terms of preparation, you can always find a Chinese restaurant and someone else cook for you.              

Visiting a friend during this season?  You can bring the rounded tray of togetherness that is an appropriate gift to share.  Divided into eight section, the tray is filled with symbolic snacks such as seeds (fertility), candied fruits (sweetness), and gold foil chocolate coins (wealth).               

In keeping with Chinese tradition, there are many New Year dos and don’ts.  During this season, etiquette is of vital importance, and you must not offend your Chinese elders. On New Year’s Day, don’t sweep, take out the trash, or use sharp knives or scissors.  Don’t curse or argue. And please, don’t cry. Do speak words of joy and blessing. Wearing white and black on any part of your body is absolutely taboo as those are funeral colors. Do wear red, the good fortune color. The more red you wear, the better.   

Lin Low, a local resident of Campbell agrees, “Wear new outfits, but in red.” She has accumulated many stories growing up in a traditional Chinese household.  “You can’t wash or clean on New Year’s Day as it washes away all the luck for at least three days.”  She recalls the years when her grandmother cooked deep fried dumplings filled with peanut and coconut shavings.             

And Lin’s own mother would hand out the largest Chinese envelopes to the sibling who woke up the earliest on New Year’s Day.  Among her three brothers, “I always made sure I woke up first!” she says with pride.              

Lin notes, “One of my best memories as a child was joining the neighborhood kids when they did a lion dance.  All of them would chip in money to buy the drums and lion equipment. Since I was the only girl and the youngest, they gave me the role of collecting lai see money after each performance.”  She continues, “I always felt a bit of anxiety from collecting money from strangers, but the older kids said that if I didn’t do a good job soliciting money they would tease me. Luckily, I had thick skin!”    

Today, all can participate in the Lunar New Year traditions.  A plethora of retail shops and grocery stores recognize this season as well. Costco is selling Chinese New Year cookies and chocolates in bright red packaging emblazoned with galloping horses.  At Walmart, Year of the Horse stuffed animal ornaments are in abundance.  Cost Plus, Sur La Table, and Williams-Sonoma tout sets of Lunar New Year tableware such as plates, cups, and mugs. Starbucks traditionally offers a gift card with the zodiac animal artistically rendered on the front. At Chinese grocery stores such as Ranch 99, the produce bins are already stocked with tangerines with attached stems and leaves for growth and long life.             

My British friend Vicky wants to meet her new Chinese neighbors with a Lunar New Year gift. I told her to bring oranges and chocolate coins. The oranges symbolize gold or wealth while the chocolates represent wishes for a sweet life.  And if she wants, she can toss in a pair of red envelopes inserted with a pair of crisp fresh bills for extra thoughtfulness. 

When mid-February rolls around, greet your Chinese neighbors with “Gung hay fat choy.”  It’s an easy way to bridge the cultural divide and deepen bonds of friendship.