Posted: February 28, 2018, 1:14am
Celebrating Chinese New Year with the fam!
Happy New Year everyone!! This is one of my favorite times of the year because of the many breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with family and delicious food. As you can see in the picture above, red is the color to wear because it symbolizes good fortune and joy. Along with wearing red clothing, we also put up red decorations around the house and married couples hand out red envelopes (“hong bao” in Mandarin, “lai see” in Cantonese) to younger, single family members.
Sophie, the youngest in the family and the first in her generation, just turned one, so she is now old enough to enjoy the celebrations and begin to learn our traditions. She was passed around all night, showing off her double-handed shake that one does in order to receive a red envelope (“bai nian”). It was really fun running around the house with her and discovering new things through her eyes.
My mom made a bunch of her legendary tea eggs (hard-boiled eggs steeped in tea, salt, and spices), drunken chicken, and egg dumplings, so I brought a bunch of boxes to lab to share with my friends. I only get to eat these once a year, so I treasure every time Chinese New Year rolls around. I hope everybody is off to a great start in this Year of the Dog!
Published on February 28th, 2018
Last updated on April 1st, 2021