New Year, Same Traditions

Ever since I could remember, Chinese New Year was a pretty big deal for my family, or any Chinese family for that matter. Every year, we’d watch the ball drop with wide eyes and sparkling anticipation on the television screen. Seconds later we’d be into January 1st, but it never symbolically meant as much as our Chinese New Year. Through the years, I’ve come to realize how uniquely meaningful our culture is — from the symbolic nature of foods, colors, animals, nature, and Chinese characters — and how I’ve yearned to understand the depth of our multi-faceted Chinese American culture.

Our new year always fell on a seemingly random day in January or February — the holiday follows the lunar calendar, spanning 354 days per year across 12 cycles of lunar phases. The Lunar New Year (interchangeably, Chinese New Year) always falls on the first new moon of the year and ends 15 days later on the first full moon of the year, closing out the festivities with the Lantern Festival. The moon is a symbol of family reunion, peace, and prosperity, so you’ll find that a lot of Chinese establishments, especially in Asian countries, close for two to four weeks to spend time with family and reenergize for the new year ahead.

Did you know?

The Lunar New Year is celebrated in many Asian countries including China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and many more. It’s an important holiday marking the beginning of the lunisolar calendar, the end of winter, and the beginning of the spring season.

In the States, the Lunar New Year isn’t recognized at length in the same way, but still well-celebrated among Asian diasporas with parades, music, dancing, and celebratory foods. For my Chinese-American family, we’d embellish our home with flowers — think cherry blossoms and red gladiolus —and a plethora of red and shiny gold decorations in the form of various lanterns, firecrackers, and posters. We’d even hang up a very comical cartoon poster of the zodiac animal honored that year in our living room, which always gave us a chuckle every time we laid eyes on it (photo below, right). This year’s the dragon! To continue the preparation, my mom headed to our nearest Chinese grocery store as early as she could to stock up on our favorite sweets — it was always dried coconut strips, often fruit gummies, candied kumquats and lotus seeds, chocolate, and gold candies — for the ‘cheun hup’, which is a tray of sweets symbolizing togetherness (photo below, middle). It’s placed on the kitchen table for everyone to enjoy during the new year celebration, family and visitors alike. One of the last things my mom would do is pick out the best looking mandarin oranges with bright green leaves (also called ‘gut’) and gingerly place them in each room of our home for good luck.

Once the decorations are in place, then the celebration can begin! My family celebrates both the eve and day of the new year with family gatherings, wrangling our extended family around large dinner tables. The eve always called for a banquet style dinner with loads of yummy foods with tradition and meaning — different foods symbolizing long life, good fortune, prosperity, and togetherness — that circled around the table on a lazy susan for everyone to enjoy. It’s called a ‘reunion dinner’ and it’s one of the most important gatherings in each family, where family members near and far come back home to see their elders and relatives… that’s a story for another post! On new year’s, we typically start the day at my grandma’s home to share a variety of sweets, nuts, and fruits over hot, steamy chrysanthemum tea. It’s a time for all of our relatives to reunite, share snacks, and chat up a storm! Later for dinner, my family recently adopted the idea of dining at a hot pot restaurant, which became a crowd favorite! There’s something for everyone — whether it be vegetarian, seafood, or meat focused — and it’s always fun and interactive to choose your vegetables, make your own sauce, and share items across the table with family.

During Covid, we didn’t have the luxury to dine out, but my family and I had an equally, if not, more memorable time recreating our favorite new year’s dishes at home altogether (photos below). What I’ve come realized through the years is that it’s not where you eat, but rather reuniting with loved ones, sharing fond memories, and wishing each other well is what this holiday is about.

These Chinese New Year traditions are indeed special, and they’ve become much more meaningful as I’ve gotten older, but what has meant the most to me has been learning my grandma’s recipes for two new year’s dishes — lo bak go (savory turnip cake) and nin go (sweet rice cake) in our family kitchen. Both popularly eaten around Chinese New Year, but you’ll see variance between recipes from family to family.

My Pau Pau’s (grandma) lo bak go is a steamed turnip cake is filled with umami-packed ingredient like shiitake mushrooms, Chinese sausage, and oyster sauce, then topped with sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds. It’s sliced and seared to golden brown perfection, resulting in a cake with a crisp exterior and softer, creamy interior. On the table, it’s served with (even more) oyster sauce over top and has easily become one of my favorite comfort foods. It’s considered an auspicious food for the new year and is a symbol of prosperity in Chinese tradition. My mom explains that the Chinese characters for cake (糕, ‘go’) and high (高, ‘gōu’) have different characters but they share the same tone and pronunciation, which is why Chinese people associate certain words with symbolic meaning. She says that Chinese tradition has come to associate cakes with higher success, rising happiness, and better health.

Nin go is a 3-ingredient sweet brown sugar rice cake made with Chinese brown sugar, glutinous rice flour, and water. It’s steamed, then topped with red jujube plums and toasted sesame seeds. It’s sliced, dipped in a beaten egg, and seared to golden brown perfection, resulting in a sweet yet salty dessert with a crisp exterior and chewy, mochi-like interior. The word ‘nin’ means year while the ‘go’ part of the word is the same as above, symbolizing the growth we wish to have in the upcoming year. While these dishes are are pretty labor intensive, they’re always made with a lot of love and care. For those interested in making these dishes, here’s the recipe for the savory turnip cake and brown sugar rice cake.

For years, my Pau Pau (grandma) had been making these laborious yet special treats from scratch in her tiny kitchen, cleaver in hand, sharing them with each of her children and their families to take home and enjoy for the holiday. When it became harder for my grandma to make as she got older (she’s 94 years young!), it was a tradition I wasn’t willing to let fade. So my interest in keeping this tradition alive took me on a journey to learn how to make this traditional Cantonese food directly from my grandma, with the help of my mom 5 years ago. I knew I had to learn the recipe, keep the tradition alive, and keep it in my scrapbook of family recipes for generations to come. Ever since, my mom and I have been recreating the two dishes each holiday in honor of our family and carry the tradition forward.

Food is truly another language of love and passion — a way for us to connect with one another as a shared language. And because I’m not able to speak in Cantonese, food has become a language I’ve been able to connect with my Pau Pau, with my family, my culture.

Through the years, I’ve witnessed how the Lunar New Year celebration brings so much meaning to my grandma and our Chinese American family. Each year, I’d always see the excitement and joy on my mom’s face too — reminiscent of a joyous little kid — to celebrate the new year, elevate our decor each year, and to keep our traditions alive through the years. It’s definitely rubbed off on me and being able to maintain that cultural connection and family tradition alive is something that inspires me. My Chinese New Year memories remind me how vibrant and symbolic Chinese culture truly is, and how lucky and proud I am to immerse myself in these traditions for the years to come. From my family to yours, Gong hay fat choy, bouh bouh gōu sīng (恭喜发财, 步步高升), which means wishing you happiness and prosperity, may you keep climbing higher and higher!

Photo attributions: Lanterns by Alexandra Pavlova; World map (modified)