For weeks, people all over Taiwan have been preparing for the most important traditional holiday of the year, the Chinese New Year. Preparing the home by cleaning it, repairing and painting, etc is a common part of the tradition. Homes are filled with fresh flowers which symbolize rebirth and new growth. Fireworks are frequent and cardboard and blow-up symbols of firecrackers are seen everywhere. Visits to shrines are common.
Traditional foods are prepared and families gather together. Oranges and tangerines with their leaves intact are given as gifts by visitors and symbolize that ones relationship remains intact. A candy tray arranged in a circle or octagon is called the "Tray of Togetherness"
and contains a dazzling array of candy. After eating several pieces, you will be assured to start the New Year sweetly.
It is tradition for married couples to return to the family of the husband for New Year's Eve and the first day of the
new year and then to visit the home of the wife's family on the second day of the new year. This means that many families are traveling during these days, shops are closed and the entire
country is on the move, celebrating with loved ones. Many Taiwanese return to Taiwan from w
herever they live in the world for their family celebrations.
Decorations are hung in doorways wishing people happiness, health and most of all, good fortune in the New Year. A typical message on a poster might read, " May you enjoy continuous good health." The color red is used to ward off the bad things symbolized by Nien, a mean monster everyone imagines. Shops spring up everywhere, in fact, whole streets of shops laden with bright red posters, signs and mobiles, baskets, specialty plants and flowers are open just for the weeks preceding
the holiday. It is a traditional holiday that focuses on reunion and Thanksgiving.
The celebration in traditional Taiwanese households is religious and focuses on heaven and earth, the gods of the household and the family. Ancestors are honored and remembered with deep respect for they laid the foundation for the family that exists today. Visits to burial sites are common. The enormous feast is laid out on a banquet table for the ancestors. The shrine can be seen in the background. A fire was lit in a small barrel while the family in years past surrounded the fire as they ate. In traditional homes the fire is still lit and kept under the table to simulate past practices.
The Chinese New Year began tonight with the New Year's eve family reunion feast. We were invited to a great feast at t
he home of my friends Wei and his wife Wei-Jhin. The feast was held in his grandmother''s apartment and about 28 family members were in attendance. Some had flown in from California and Japan and others had traveled from their homes in other parts of Taiwan for the New Year's events.
We sampled many traditonal foods such as the one being cooked up on the stove. It was a thick, pasty creation containing mushrooms and shrimp that is eaten to symbolize the family sticking together. It took a great deal of muscle to make!
After the feast of incredible foods: chicken, shrimp, egg rolls, squid, fish of all sorts, vegetables, soups and delicacies, the children of the family are all given gifts of money in small red envelopes. Even adult children are given these gifts of money and the delight and merriment is evident. The oldest members
of the family dole out the money with great joy.
There is much joy and partaking of wine and yummy desserts. Mahjong is played with some family-style gambling. The festival will continue for fifteen days with various
festivities and traditions. The last day will be the Lantern festival which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade. That will be the subject of another blog. Firecrackers are shot off at midnight to symbolize the leaving of the bad things from the old year. Nien, the awful monster is afraid of firecrackers so the noise from them makes him run away.
This is a wonderful holiday filled with much symbolism, many traditions and many superstitions. A good resource can be found at http://www.edu.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/China/chinese_new_year.html
2 comments:
How interesting it must be to arrive in a far-away culture just as they are celebrating such a major event! Our ministers arrived in Turkey for Ramadan and were also fascinated. They have been sharing their experience with us ever since.
As each of us broadens our understanding of other cultures, and shares that understanding with friends and family, the world is drawn together just a bit more into one family. "May it be so."
Kit Franklin
Sounds like you have been having a lot of delicious experiences. Its really funny that you are writing about food most often. Honestly i would be doing the saame exact thing!
Im excited about this year because it is year of the rat, MY YEAR!
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