Chinese New Year 2007 (18 Feb – 4 Mar 2007)

Chinese New Year (CNY) is a major celebration among the Chinese community here in Malaysia. This year is the Year of the Boar (or Pig, as some people may call it). In China, CNY is known as the Spring Festival and lasts for 15 days.

We had the reunion dinner with Sze’s family on the eve of CNY - my family was abroad, thus leaving my brother, little sis and me on our own. I was lucky to have Sze. My little sis was working throughout the first few days of CNY while my poor brother was home alone with the dogs. As little sis was transferred to another location for a couple of days, Sze and I drove her to work in Subang Jaya as she was not sure of the way. After dropping her off, we stopped by Subang Parade as I had wanted to buy a shirt for my lonely brother. As we were walking around, we saw a lion dance troupe preparing to start their performance. Soon after, 2 lions started their lively dance, distributing mandarin oranges and “attacking” the children along the way… hehe. It was an entertaining show and we had fun watching it.

"Don't eat me! Eat my daughter instead!!!"

"Yummy... the child was delicious..."

It had been a quiet and peaceful celebration for us. We’ve had a lazy few days before Sze started working on the 4th day of CNY. He had complained that the holidays were way too short and that his college was probably the only institution to resume classes that week. You could tell from the half deserted city and the absolutely fantastic traffic that everyone else was still away on holiday. It was a reminder to the farcical work resumption order early this year which insisted that he return to work from the semester holidays on 2nd January, only to be told to go home after clocking in as it was actually a public holiday (to replace Hari Raya Haji on Sunday). Now why was it that everyone knew about the holiday but yet the powers-that-be chose to ignore it? What’s wrong with them anyway?

On that same evening, Sze came to my house after work with a few guests. We were hosting a small dinner celebration for a few friends. Our honorable guests were Alice, Venus, Debbie and Josephine. We had also invited several others but they couldn’t make it… what a shame. I had prepared a simple dinner where we had spaghetti as the main course, salad as a side dish and “dragon eye” (longan) fruit as dessert. We had wine too - check out our blushing faces here in the photo gallery.

Unlike Sze, I had the whole week off from work. My colleagues and I visited my boss in Klang on the 5th day of CNY. Some had arrived earlier and the first thing they did was to start gambling. I lost more than RM30 playing cards with them. Well, it was more like visiting a casino rather than visiting the boss.

My parents and elder sis came back from their trip abroad on the 7th day of CNY. This day is known as the common man's birthday - the day when everyone grows one year older. It is a day when tossed raw fish salad, better known as Yee Sang, is eaten. This custom is adopted primarily by the Chinese communities in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. Family and friends get together to toss the colorful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.

I followed my parents back to Sitiawan to celebrate the 9th day of CNY. This celebration is known as Bai Tien Gong. It is a big festival for the Hokkien Chinese where they will pray and make offerings to the Jade Emperor, the ruler of Heaven. At the stroke of midnight, my parents performed thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. We made offerings of a whole roast pig, roast duck, chicken, pastries and fruits but the most important of all was the sugarcanes. This is because it was the humble sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens when they were attacked by soldiers generations ago. They had hidden in a sugarcane plantation and thus escaped from being exterminated when the soldiers couldn’t find them.

As there was plenty of food, my Mom gave away most of it. By the way, did you know that I don’t eat pork? Not many of my friends realize this... hehe, so the first question they would always ask is, “Are you a Muslim?” No, I am not a Muslim but I just don’t eat pork for health reasons.

The 15th day of CNY is known as Chap Goh Meh. This day is often used to mark the end of the fortnight-long festivities. We forgot that there was a community organized celebration at a park near Sze’s house the night before and missed out on the event. Since Chap Goh Meh is also considered to be the Chinese Valentine’s Day, we wonder if single girls threw oranges into the lake there for the lucky single guys to catch?

We had a late dinner with Sze’s parents on this last day of the CNY. We had sweet and sour chicken, steamed fish, stewed mushroom, tofu and Chinese cabbage. Guess who did the cooking?... Sze’s Dad was the chief cook… hehe. Actually, both his parents prepared the food but it was Dad who did most of the cooking. We also had a bottle of red wine to go with the food. It was a fitting end to the long celebrations. Hope everyone had a good CNY too.