It has taken many years and numerous places for our customs to emerge.
Growing up, I lived in several different places, from Athens, GA, to Northborough, MA, but we were always one of the few Asian families in each place.
I was born in Taiwan, but when I was eighteen months old, my mother, my younger sister, and my father—who had been accepted to graduate school in Virginia—moved to the United States. However, no one in our hometowns ever visibly observed the Lunar New Year; therefore, the largest Asian festival of the year was kept a secret in our family.
That is until I began to notice a few yearly cues from my mother: the way she would carefully plan and store supplies, gather ingredients for the largest feast of the year, and pay attention to every little detail. She never had a car, so my father would always take her to the Chinese grocery shop, which was an hour away, or she would ask a neighbor to get the scallions. She used to steal red envelopes from a different mother at our Chinese school on Sundays.
My mother was well prepared for the symbolic dinner when the Lunar New Year arrived. I observed her cooking elaborate dishes, such as steaming entire fish, including the head and tail, because the Chinese term for "fish" has the same sound as "luxury." We consumed lengthy noodles, which stand for eternal hope. To bring luck to our family, I assisted my mom in making dumplings that looked like traditional Chinese gold bars. We celebrated Lunar New Year in the secure confines of our immigrant household without inviting anybody to join us for a feast because we didn't have any relatives in the United States (and still don't!). We also felt uncomfortable hosting neighbors in our home with delicacies that would seem strange to them.
Having two teenage girls, I've grown up and am adamant about preserving Lunar New Year customs. However, this was only sometimes the case.
My four-person family was made up of people born in various nations. My spouse, my daughter, 17, was born in Philadelphia, my daughter, 13, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and I was born in Taiwan. Although I have observed the Lunar New Year in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other East Coast communities, my girls have celebrated the occasion in Philadelphia, Glasgow, and San Diego, California, where we have been for the past six years. Due to the significant differences between the Lunar New Year in each location, our customs have had to change.
Lunar New Year was a hidden celebration when I was a youngster. Still, during the 14 years we spent in Philadelphia, where open celebrations take over the center of thriving Chinatown, it was anything from a secret. Embracing the celebrations seemed right; by the time my oldest child was born, we had started organizing around and for them.
New street markets appeared, offering sizzling hot potstickers and miniature Chinese drums. To ward off evil spirits, firecrackers would crackle in the streets and front of eateries. Dim sum and other traditional delicacies are being served in restaurants as they open their doors. Meanwhile, lively lion dancers parade along the streets to the sound of loud drums, bringing good fortune to the businesses and those who feed the lion with red envelopes loaded with cash.
Since red is associated with good fortune and celebration, new clothes symbolize a fresh start for the new year. Here, I could stroll into a Chinatown store and choose elegant, traditional red Chinese garments, or qipao, for my daughter to wear.
However, I needed help to get traditional Chinese clothing when we relocated to Scotland, where we spent eight years. I started getting them warm red sweaters after the birth of my second daughter. I barely encountered any public celebrations, unlike the ones I was used to in Philadelphia. Naturally, I saw that I was changing how we acknowledged the occasion.
I offered to lead class demonstrations to help normalize the Asian holiday at my children's conventional British schools, where there were very few students of East Asian descent. I gave each youngster a crimson packet, or "hong bao" in Chinese, packed with a penny and a chocolate coin. I read the little ones children's books about the festival and brought in several pairs of chopsticks, both with and without the baby chopstick holders, for them to try.
I attempted to buy dumplings in Glasgow, but the worn-out packets of frozen dumplings appeared to have undergone repeated defrosting and freezing during transit from Asia. I then started from scratch while cooking dumplings. My kids joined in since they thought it looked fun as I began rolling the dough and wrapping the dumplings. We could cook a hundred dumplings together, and they would be gone in ten minutes.
Due to the lack of real Chinese restaurants in Scotland, I began preparing extravagant Lunar New Year banquets at home, emulating my mother's celebrations from my childhood. I made my childhood favorite, ginger-y steamed whole fish, using spaghetti instead of Chinese noodles when they looked to be out of stock.
Now that we're in San Diego, frozen dumplings can be found easily in Western grocery shops like Trader Joe's. My mom used to tell me that Trader Joe's dumplings weren't that awful. We still make them from a family recipe, stuffing our wraps with Napa cabbage, egg, onions, and minced pork. The procedure brings back memories of making them with my mother when I was younger, and I'm happy that my children have developed an appreciation for the process of making homemade dumplings, which is a common Asian family bonding ritual.
I was aback by how Westernized Lunar New Year celebrations had grown on the West Coast, even at well-known theme parks, away from our California home. We've seen death-defying Chinese acrobats at SeaWorld San Diego; their performances were on par with what I witnessed in Shanghai. We have sat in large arenas with hundreds of onlookers, Asian and non-Asian, all in awe of the performances. My kids felt at ease with their Asian background in California because of the strong feeling of community there. We also attended the Lunar New Year celebration at Disneyland, where guests are urged to write good wishes on lanterns. After my mother unexpectedly passed away not long after we returned to the United States, I jotted down my goals for the upcoming year below.
Remembering your ancestors, whose spirits live on in the customs we pass down from generation to generation, is, after all, another aspect of Lunar New Year celebrations. We stick to traditions that date back hundreds of years to honor the departed.
I don't mind doing a few "twists" these days to make the occasion more appealing to my Westernized adolescents. They'll even agree to wear the dark red sweatshirts I purchased with surf insignia to school. And each year, I can be sure they will be excitedly searching for red envelopes.
Even though there are moments when my kids might become a bit tired of all the customs, I hope when they look back, they will recall the firecrackers, the magnificent lion dancers, and the delicious flavor of the dumplings they prepared with their mother. Additionally, I hope they remember how we modified rituals to fit our needs and blended them into our traditions when we traveled.
Where will the Lunar New Year be observed in 2023?
I've observed Lunar New Year's in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Here are a few of my favorites for kicking off the Year of the Rabbit.
Philadelphia: On Lunar New Year's Eve and Day, Chinatown is closed for a raucous street celebration featuring the Philadelphia Suns Traditional Lion Dance. Snag a table at Ocean Harbor, the location of the lucky visit by the lion para.
San Diego: The Vietnamese New Year, which ushers in the Year of the Cat, is celebrated as part of the San Diego Lunar New Year Festival. One year, we arrived at a funny pho-eating competition and were met by a replica of Ben Thanh Market, my favorite food market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Anaheim, California: Asian Disney princesses like Mulan and Raya, as well as Mickey and Minnie dressed for the holiday, may be seen at Disneyland's Lunar New Year Festival. Mulan's Lunar Year Procession will also take place, in addition to lantern sales, Chinese calligraphy performances, and the Lucky Wishes Wall, where you may write messages to your ancestors or wishes for the next year, much as I did for my mother.
Taiwan: Spending time with family is the main focus of the Chinese New Year, and I used to celebrate by spending time in the southwest city of Chiayi with my grandmother and uncle. We attended a political demonstration, ate traditional foods at home, and visited a Buddhist temple to honor our ancestors—even though we are not Buddhists. The Taiwan Lantern Festival, where vibrant lanterns are launched into the sky, is the most widely attended event. Every year, a different city hosts the event; this year, Taipei will host its first in 23 years.
Ho Chi Minh City: I remember spending a fantastic Lunar New Year's, eating an abundance of freshly prepared summer rolls while observing their preparation at a lunch stall in the famous Ben Thanh Market. For Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, there will be parades and lion dance performances at Tao Dan P
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