As I Remember It

Happy Chinese New Year!!

This year, Chinese New Year falls on the same day as Australia Day. So this year, it is a very 're nau' time for Chinese living in Australia. This year also, I am in Australia celebrating the biggest Chinese New Year I have ever experienced, probably in my entire life.
CNY back home is very different. A few months before the actual date, you see supermarkets starting to stock up on red things. Red packets, red lanterns, red greeting cards, red decorations, red streamers, everything red. Then a few weeks later, they start playing CNY songs that go 'dong chiang dong chiang' and start having lucky draws, promotions and sales. The number of anxious housewives increase by the week as they prepare their homes for the biggest occasion of the whole year.

For us, CNY is a time to back our bags and drive 3 hours to accompany my dear old grandma since the passing of grandad nearly a decade ago. So every year since that year, we have been driving over to be with dear grandma.
Upon arrival at grandma's, we are greeted with her warm smile and loving gaze although she is nearly hard of seeing. We are 'escorted' into the kitchen to find that she has lovingly made us one of her famous deserts (either steamed yam cake, steamed glutinous rice with sultanas, or steamed tapioca cake or her famous marmalades with biscuits) in anticipation of our arrival. In the recent years, grandma would be so ecstatic that we were actually physically there she would shed tears of joy.

Then, the cheeky little cousins from next door would start running over and then it all starts. Riddles, comics, books, cartoons, movies and stories about their cats. In all cheekiness, we are intrigued by their intelligence and obedience. One cousin finished reading three Harry Potter books in one day when she was six. She was a very skinny lambikin back then, as all she did was read, read and read all day. She's all grown up now, and I haven't seen her for many years. How I wished I had just a tiny drop of her love for reading!

On CNY eve, we would help grandma clean her house although she had 'already cleaned it' (according to her, as she does not want to 'trouble' us). Laundry, vacuuming, sweeping. CNY eve is a big deal for a lot of people, but for us, it is just a stay at home day and movie night.
Back then I didn't know that people binge eat during CNY (now I really do).

At midnight, we would prepare to close all the windows and shut our ears as firecrackers went off. Usually, it lasts for half an hour but sometimes it goes an hour into midnight.

On the first day of CNY, we would wake up to the aroma of chicken and mushroom soup. Mmmm... Grandma usually makes her much loved lemon tea, and we would each have a small bowl of long life noodles with an egg. As the years went by, so did our 'formality' during CNY. As kids we used to dress up and wash up neatly for CNY breakfast. But as we got older, no one really bothered....sometimes we would be in our pj's until nearly noon. We would stay in the house and watch CNY tv programs all morning as we graze on the one or two trays of CNY goodies with my little cheeky cousins. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we would peep at our neighbour's house when they had a lion dance over.

In the afternoon or a few days later, a Catholic nun would drop by for a visit and to bless the house. In the next few days, a distant family member or two would drop by for a visit. Before we drove back home, we would pay grandad's grave a visit and say a little prayer in front of his tombstone. We usually end up being mosquito lunch.

That is how I remember the CNY back home, it is a contrast to what it was like when I was a kid and when fire crackers weren't banned (officialy banned but some households still play it- I REALLY miss those days!!) and when all the cousins were still kids and living at home, and everyone was young and strong.

This year, CNY is celebrated with my other family, and I must say I have never ever experienced such joyfulness, Chineseness and loud happiness in one occasion. The loudness of the atmosphere and the old ladies chattering and fussing about, the abundance of food and eating, and I have never seen so much food and -expensive food in my life! It is all in good fun, and a lot more looking forward of many more CNY's to come.

Some of the dishes we had for CNY eve dinner. I have never had these home cooked before I came to this country. They were absolutely beautiful!

So Gong Xi Fa Chai, wherever you are, and remember to wear something red or the monster will eat you and your livestock.

God bless, be safe and take care.