New is Good

Image credit: mango&lime

03/02/2011

I want to wish everyone who celebrates this festive season a very Happy Chinese New Year. This festival is celebrated in so many ways for different regions and cultures, and even in my home country this celebration can be diverse depending on individual households.

My family is considered to be contemporary, not too traditional yet still keeping the culture alive in some form. On New Year’s Eve, we have a typical family dinner with plenty of Chinese food to savor, but we don’t serve dumplings like what the people in China do. We do, however, serve steamed chicken, much like the Vietnamese.

The days that follow usually include family and friends visit to our house, where my mum normally call for catering. Red packets changing hands are a common sight, and the same old joke about asking for a red packet never gets old. But the more I think about it the lamer it seems. From my observation, it has become more of a tradition to deliver that joke once in a while and you can’t really escape it. So we embrace it and take it in good nature.

Perhaps my favorite part of this festive season, or least favorite depending on how you see it, is having guests coming over to our house especially those friends we haven’t seen in ages. It is indirectly an opportunity to reunite again with people we once knew or are close with.

This festival is indeed a chance to start fresh and new, what with new clothes and new hats. It’s a time for all to re-evaluate their lives, to seek the positive factors and drain the negative ones. Having said that, this year is a totally different year for me. For the first time ever, I’m not home for New Year.