Painting the town red for Chinese New Year

BENGALURU: Jewel Mcmurray has celebrated the Chinese New Year multiple times in India but this year’s celebration is more special to her. The Chinese expatriate will be joined by her mother, who will ring in the Year of the Pig, for the first time in Bengaluru. Her mother is a ‘traditional Chinese woman’ who cannot speak English, but since the festival is all about togetherness, Mcmurray has organised a party with all their other Chinese friends who cannot go back to China for the day. As she says, “Chinese New Year is just like Christmas for someone from the West or Diwali for an Indian.”

The Chinese New Year, which falls on February 5 this year, is the most significant holiday for the Chinese and is celebrated by the diaspora all around the world, to mark the arrival of spring. Culturally, however, the festival denotes the time to wipe the slate clean, forgive all debts and start afresh emotionally with loved ones.

Lucky colour red

During this time of the year, red ornaments and lanterns dot almost every expat’s door and window, with the Chinese character ‘Fu’ (which signifies good fortune) being the most popular option. According to Sharon Lee Thibault, a Singaporean expat, red is the lucky colour that frightens away the monster ‘Nian’, who is said to have prowled the dark days of winter. “Bright colours and loud sounds like fireworks scared the monster. The Chinese invented gunpowder for peaceful reasons. This is one of them,” she explains.
This year, Thibault will also continue the tradition of handing unmarried children red envelopes, or ang pow, that contains “lucky money”, which is usually given out in denominations of two, six, eight, 10 or 12. “The legend is that Nian would eat little children so the red packets would scare him away. Also, the Chinese consider white to be a colour of mourning so our envelopes are always red,” she adds.

Tossing the salad

No celebration is complete without food and the new year celebration is incomplete without tossing the salad, says Susheela Mary Thomas, a Singaporean and managing trustee of Overseas Women’s Foundation, Bengaluru. Going to a Chinese restaurant is definitely on the agenda for Thomas, who is also looking forward to the salad tradition. “The significance of the tossing is to wish for abundant luck and happiness for all. The salad includes raw fish and the assembled diners then use their chopsticks to toss the ingredients high into the air,” she explains, adding that the action is called ‘lo hei’, which means to attract wealth and treasures.While fish (denotes happiness) and cabbage (denotes good fortune) are staples of the celebratory meal, since this is the year of the pig, Thibault adds that “cute little pig-shaped new year cookies” will definitely be on the menu as well.

Clean sweep

The day before the new year is spent tidying up the whole house, but on February 5, neither Thomas, Mac or Thibault will be touching a broom. “The Gods of good luck and fortune visit the houses on the first day of the New Year. If you clean the house, you might wash away the traces of good luck that they have left in their footsteps,” says Thibault.