Goodbye Ox, Hello Tiger

Chinese New Year is one of the biggest holidays within the Chinese culture. This year is the year of the tiger, which begins on February the 14th (Valentine's Day!!!). Being someone who grew up within a fairly traditional Chinese family, it is one of my favourite "holidays". I call it a "holiday" because China recognizes Chinese New Year as a public holiday, allowing people to spend time with their families. This is one of the many reasons why I love Chinese New Year, it serves as a way for my entire family and I to spend time together, just eating and joking around. To me, Chinese New Year also means decorating the house with red and gold decorations, cleaning the house to welcome in the new year, red envelopes, and of course my favourite part: awesome food!!!

Food plays a very large role during Chinese New Year. For one, many (if not all) of the dishes eaten will have some sort of meaning behind it. Seeing as each family will most likely have their own traditions of what is eaten during the new year, I will introduce some of the food that my family typically eats at gatherings.

For one, normally nine dishes are served because the number nine represents longevity. Secondly, fish, meat & a vegetable dish must appear at least once on the menu, as this symbolizes starting the new year with all the major food groups, so that one will not go hungry throughout the year. The fish and meat (typically chicken) are served whole to represent togetherness within the family. Another prominent dish is shrimp because in Chinese, the word shrimp sounds like the word happiness. For dessert, black sesame dumplings served in a sweet syrup is typically eaten. The roundness of the dumplings signifies reunion between family and the sweetness of the syrup represents happiness throughout the new year.

These are just some of the many dishes that are served, but I thought it would be interesting to mention some of them on this blog. Since Chinese New Year begins this weekend, I guess I will end this blog entry with a saying that is normally said during Chinese New Year. Gung Hay Fat Choy!