Chinese New Year (fer realz)

The Lantern Festival is no big deal here in Calgary (I guess I should mention I've been home for a week and a half now); no lanterns, no riddles, no couples, just three tangyuan that came from a frozen package in my mom's homemade ginger + Chinese brown sugar sweet syrup.

Mmm... I love black sesame...

Over in Hong Kong, Chinese New Year was a little different. My dad wanted me to get involved with the festivities as much as possible, so I was in charge of buying/hanging the decorations...

...and filling the 全盒 ("chuen hup"), the red, circular box you treat guests with when they come over to visit you on the first two days of Chinese New Year.

The meat stall that I used to pass everyday on the way to work while admiring the giant tail that dangled next to the different cuts of meat moved to a larger shop just down the street some time in December, and the new owners rented out half the shop to a family that sold candy/snacks, I got packs of watermelon seeds (瓜子/"gwa zi")—obscured by the red pocket in the photo—, candy, and candied vegetables/fruit for HKD$10 (less than CAD$2) each. The shop was out of chocolate coins so I went to another one a couple blocks away—the same one I went to when I bought supplies for my grandma's 全盒—and picked up a few handfuls of everything for HKD$16 (~CAD$2) and a ½ lb of pistachios for HKD$20 (~CAD$3). My dad supplied the pink- ("rose") and green-tinted ("green tea") pumpkin seeds. He's a huge fan of pumpkin seeds and has a large box of it in the living room at all times. That's probably not a good thing.

Obviously the Chinese are huge fans of symbolism, so foods for the 全盒 are all have their own meaning. The chocolate coins are obvious (gold and wealth), and I know the melon seeds/pumpkin seeds (both called 瓜子) mean something, but I'm not sure... My favourite is the pistachio, however. In Chinese they're called 開心果 ("hoi sum gwŏ", literally, happy fruit) because the slit in their shells makes it look like they're smiling/laughing :D. Another popular 全盒 choice are candied lotus seeds (蓮子/"leen zi"), because it symbolizes the idea of "giving birth to sons/children again and again" - 連生貴子 ("leen sahng gwai zi").

I didn't pick up any candied lotus seeds, but grabbed another assortment of candied fruits/vegetables instead - lotus root, sweet potato, and coconut. My dad liked pointing it out to all the friends and relatives that came by because apparently it's a "rare" find these days. There were only three candied lotus roots in the bag that I bought, and one of our guests ate two (!!!) and my uncle ate the last one so I didn't get a taste. The candied sweet potato was just sweet, no potato, but I *loved* picking at the strips of candied coconut while everyone was snacking on the pistachios (because nothing else in there was worth eating, really, the chocolate was so cheap it tasted like wax.)

And why would you pick at those silly snacks when there's other *better* traditional New Years foods? We fried up some store-bought turnip cakes for my aunt and uncle, and at other relatives' homes, we were treated to fried glutinous rice balls stuffed with red bean paste, New Year cake, taro cake, and tangyuan. I was unfortunately too busy stuffing my face to snap any photos, but I assure you, despite miraculously not gaining weight while I was in Hong Kong, all the extra fat and sugar plus the decreased activity due to not having to walk to and from the MTR station for work caused me to gain two pounds before I left for Calgary.

Aside from playing the game of visiting a relative, then coming back to your own house to wait for a visiting relative the first two days of Chinese New Year, other traditions are associated with the days as well. On the first day (年初一, "neen chŏ yut"), you are supposed to keep vegetarian and eat special Chinese fake meats (none of this straightforward vegetarian business), something we didn't end up doing as my dad and I were rushing from house to house and couldn't even stop to eat the lunch my grandma prepared! On the second day (年初二, "neen chŏ yi"), most families and companies will gather for 開年飯 ("hoi neen fahn"), a meal which symbolizes the first meal of the year. In Hong Kong, because no one could truly resist closing up shop for three days, many businesses reopen on the second or third day of the Chinese New Year.

On the third day (年初三, "neen chŏ sahm"), no one visits anyone else because the day is referred to as 赤口 ("chek hau", literally, "red mouth"), which means that on this day, people are more likely to get into arguments. That doesn't mean it's time to stay at home and relax! In Hong Kong, many people go to the Che Kung Temple, or to the horse races if they're not the religious type.

I left for Calgary the next day, but I'm sure if I stayed I would've learned about a lot more Chinese New Year traditions (and foods!) As an unmarried and unemployed person though, I think I got what I wanted out of the Chinese New Year... ;)