Last Thursday was Chinese New Year's day. With everything that went on during last week's half-term, I very nearly forgot all about it because there was no hint of it at all where I live. Luckily, I have written it down on the calendar. Even more luckily, I looked at the calendar on Wednesday morning and realised that it was Chinese New Year's eve, which means that I ought to prepare a dinner that is more sumptuous than usual to honour the tradition of the reunion dinner, even though it was just the three of us having dinner together that night.
A last-minute panic grocery shopping trip ensued, followed by three hours in the kitchen. The result turned out acceptable:
The dishes we had for this year's reunion dinner are (with a few adjustments made for our dietary requirements):
I always find it slightly weird listening to traditional Chinese myths told by a non-Chinese. Often, despite the best intentions, subtleties and forms of expression are lost in translation and there is certainly no denying the fact that a mind brought up on the Western traditions thinks very different from one brought up on Eastern traditions. The experience would be as authentic as having a Chinese person tell the story of Beowulf. Nevertheless, I am still very grateful to be able to find such opportunities for Tiger to be exposed to one-half of his culture, and for me to feel a sense of connection back to my own culture.
We also watched two traditional dances performed by a Chinese dancer.
The first was a peacock dance, a minority ethnic (傣族) dance:
the second was a ribbon dance, which is a traditional dance of the majority Han (汉族) ethinic group:
Tiger also made a red packet while we were at the museum:
After that, we headed to the sensible place to be on Chinese New Year's Day: Chinatown!
As it was raining, we ducked into one of the restaurants and had a delicious meal of not-quite-traditional Chinese food. We had the nian gao (年糕) in a fusion, "newly improved" form, and our main meal was the Nasi Lemak, which is a popular Malay rice dish found in parts of Southeast Asia. Even though we did not have the full traditional Chinese meal, we were very happy to tuck into what was in front of us.
Finally, I am sorry to say that, due to my poor organisational skills this year, we did not manage to make even one Chinese New Year card to send to our Chinese relations. It is really bad manners, and would have been perceived equally badly as not sending Christmas cards to our English relations. Mercifully, our Chinese relations have been very forgiving and accepting of our appalling lack of social graces.
We have since made up for my lack of logistical coordination by drawing something related to this year's theme:
by following the instructions from the clip below:
As always, Tiger has his own idea of what he wants to include in his drawing. It is not quite what I have in mind as a substitute for the Chinese New Year card (with a fighter jet flying over the goat and a massive explosion positioned strategically behind the goat's bottom), but at least he has the goat in there.
Chinese New Year is traditionally celebrated for 15 days, so we still have about a week to enjoy the festivity.
This post is linked up to:
Our crew has been studying Korea and Vietnam. We found a book of Korean Children's Stories that they enjoyed quite a bit! I am going to check out your recipes because they look amazing! I also failed at doing a good spread of authentic dishes for our studies. Kudos to you for getting to the store! I didn't want to navigate the German stores for Thai chili sauce and other items that were needed for a recipe I found. I am going to share the dance video and goat video with the kids. Thank you for sharing them!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Kay. I think I wouldn't have been so bothered if it weren't Chinese New Year, and I am Chinese after all, so it would seem very lame for me to let the festival pass without doing something about it! :-)
DeleteI hope you enjoy the videos!
None of my drawing lessons quite turn out how I'd prefer either. They all seem to have some martial thing added as well.
ReplyDeleteReally, Ticia? That's intriguing. I'd like to see some of your drawings! Most of the time adults tend to follow drawing instructions down to the last minute point, so you're probably one of the few adults who still have the child-like creativity intact! I think that is a very good thing. :-)
DeleteWhat an exciting day! It all looks so fun, and the food looks delicious! I didn't notice it was Chinese New Year until after it had passed, so I missed out on preparing a feast. It's a good thing there is always next year.
ReplyDeleteYes, luckily the festivals come around year after year! :-) This year I feel that I have done a much toned down affair of the Chinese New Year compared to last year, but I still try to do what I can for 15 days.
DeleteThanks for stopping by with your lovely comment, Jenny. :-)
What great activities. I love celebrating holidays with my kids. Good for you making all that food. I bought Chinese take out.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
I would have bought Chinese take-out too if it were not for my son's dietary requirments. :-) Celebrating holidays is a good way to reinforce family traditions, isn't it? I'm glad to hear that you enjoy celebrating holidays in your family too. It would be a shame not to. :-)
DeleteWe bought Chinese takeout, too.
DeleteTotally love the way you make the week come alive! I'm visiting from Weekly Wrap Up.
ReplyDeleteThanks, LM. I'm just glad that there are a few related activities that we can go to, so that saved me from a dire lack in planning this year! :-)
DeleteSaw your blog linked up from Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers...I, too, had a last-minute realization that CNY was suddenly upon us and scrambled to put together some teachable moments. You did a great job finding so many ways to incorporate it into your week, certainly more than I did!
ReplyDeleteThanks, E. I think I'm been lucky that we can get to places where there are Chinese New Year activities available, so that has saved me somewhat from being a total failure at planning! :-)
DeleteI love that Chinese New Year lasts for so long! It gives this disorganized mama a better chance to hit it, lol. 3 of my children were born in China.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, Shecki! :-) I'm likewise not very organised about Chinese New Year this year, so I am grateful for the 15-day period to get something in place.
DeleteOh my goodness, you did such a great job celebrating the Chinese New Year!
ReplyDeleteWe learned about China this week, too, but I didn't even realize it was the Chinese New Year. Weird coincidence...
Thanks, Leslie. :-) You must have a very strong sense of intuition to coincide your China study with Chinese New Year without even realising it. How timely!
DeleteYou always do a great job at celebrating Chinese new year.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Phyllis. Since I started the ball rolling with last year's celebration, I feel as though I have to keep up the tradition now. :-)
DeleteI cracked up laughing at Tiger's imaginative Chinese New Year card :) I completely dropped the ball on Chinese New Year this year - it's been hectic, and I've been trying to wrap up West Africa posts. I'm hoping to make up for it with a little lantern festival celebration by finding new riddles. Next year, I intend to be much better organised :)
ReplyDeleteI can imagine there's a lot to do for the West Africa study! Your studies are always so in-depth that they provide me with much inspiration and ideas for history and geography studies, even though we are not doing country studies at the moment - but I have bookmarked many of your posts for later reference! :-)
DeleteI haven't done very well for Chinese New Year this year either, but luckily we have two more days to make up for it. I'm a little stuck for lantern riddles this year though. :-)