Lunar New Year (the year of the Ox)

Wow, how quickly this comes upon me … I kind of know, but not really. I figure it is sometimes in Jan/Feb, but it certainly seems earlier this year. The Lunar New Year will be this coming Monday, January 26, 2009, the year of the Ox.

A few nights ago (before I left CA), I was at the grocery, seeing all the Lunar New Year merchandise display, makes me want to celebrate. Yet, I am down under at the moment. I couldn’t resist and had to get some of these New Year cake. I just have to wait until I return to pan fry them.

Obviously, this is a big holiday in Asia. When I lived in Singapore, it was fun to see everyone busy in prepping for the holidays. To Asians, this is more important than Christmas and Thanksgivings. The picture in the blog header is taken when I was in Singapore 3 years back.

The general population really doesn’t do much more than what westerners would do for Christmas and Thanksgivings. The main theme is to be with your family and enjoy the time together with lots of food and gifts. Yes, there are certain rituals, like burning incense and pray to the gods and ascendants. But we don’t do this in my family. My grandma used to do that, and consume only vegetarian meals, etc. For us, we say some good wishes and get the red packages.

This year is special, my first year being the married aunty passing out red packages to the kiddies. That is all I will be able to do. So I mailed couple out to Riley and Duncan. Dennis is picking up the one for Ian when he is in town. And Caden and Makayla’s will have to wait until I get home. I think for next year, I should prepare a traditional meal at home. I have not done a proper Chinese New Year menu yet, even though I have acquired quite a few Chinese cookbooks in the past. It should be fun and a bit challenging.