Low Yee Ching A0115981B NM 4226 Book Project

Chinese New Year A personal recount exploring how time and spacechanges the cultural practices in celebrating this festive holiday

Chapter 1: The BeginningIt was the year 2004, I was 10 years old.“Have you checked the door? Is it locked? Is it secured?” Mum nagged.“Yes, it is. Don’t fret so much dear.” Dad told Mum, placing his hand over the door, establishingto her that the door was indeed locked and very secure.“Okay, let’s get a move on then.” Mum and Dad lugged the carton of canned mushrooms, thebag of fruits and vegetables and our bag of luggage into our car.“Ah girl, come.” My mum beckoned towards me as she took my hand and brought me to the car. It was always a fluster for us every year as we hurriedly pack our luggage to return back to my father’s hometown, Yong Peng back in Malaysia to celebrate Chinese New Year. It was the truly best times of my life. I always looked forward to returning to my father’s hometown in Yong Peng, Malaysia. The atmosphere was always noisy and cheerful. Our relatives were always smiling and joyful, warm and welcoming to see us back home after such a long period of time. It was truly, in my opinion then, the happiest place to be on earth.

Chapter 2: The Journey Back Every year, we wake up at the crack of dawn in order to get a head start against the crowd competing with us to cross the customs to reunite with their families in Malaysia. If we were lucky and the jam wasn’t bad, the journey would take approximately two hours or lesser. If we were not, the journey would take four hours or more.Throughout the years, many stories haveemerged in our journey back to ourhometown.There were times where we were stoppedby the Malaysian Traffic Police for a spotcheck and my father to offer him money todrink some coffee so that he will allow usto be on our way. There were times whereone of us had to use the washroom butcouldn’t because we were stuck in the jamin the customs and the queue was movingslower than if we were walking.There were good times and there werebad. But all of them make up the preciousmemories which I hold dearly to.

Chapter 3: Chinese New Year Eve During Chinese New Year eve, the traditional meal we would enjoy for our reunion dinner is steamboat. However, one of the gendered traditions relative to Chinese New Year is that the sons in the family would have priority to bring his family for reunion dinners. This signifies that married daughters in the family who are married would not be able to attend the reunion dinner on Chinese New Year Eve as they would follow their husbands home. Thus, we would have our steamboat typically on the day of Chinese New Year itself instead. One traditional dish which our relatives would prepare every Chinese New Year would be duck soup. Duck soup traditionally is a dish served in household in places like Penang, It is made only during celebrative occasions such as Chinese New Year. Another traditional dish prepared on this day is called the Poon Choi . It is the equivalent of a Chinese Casserole. It is stuffed full with ingredients such as prawn, abalone, duck and etc.

One of the highlights of Chinese New Year Eve Video: Moon Travellerswould be post reunion dinner, where we wereout to the front yard to play. While onlysparklers were allowed in Singapore,celebrating Chinese New Year in Malaysia wasalways exciting because it gives me anopportunity to experience a variety of differentfirecrackers available other than thetraditional sparklers that are allowed inSingapore. At aged 10, we would be excitedly play with thesparklers and participate in writing our wishes on the sky lantern. While the older kids would playwould play with Moon Travellers, as shown in thevideo below on the right. We had good memories with the experience.

Video: Fireworks Fireworks One of my most vivid memories are the fireworks that we set during our new year countdown celebrations as shown in the video. Being born and bred in Singapore, this was something that we could never experience in Singapore as fireworks were something that were only allowed in government sanctioned events. It felt surprisingly liberating to have our own personal firework display in celebration of Chinese New Year. There was something about looking up into the night sky and the fireworks with your family that struck a core deep within.

Chapter 4: 1st Day of Chinese New YearThe first day of Chinese new year was always a joyous occasion because it would mean that wewould receive our red packets!My father came from a huge family, he has 9 siblings and due to the sheer size of the family, the agegap between all his siblings can be quite big. As a result of so, the age discrepancy between mycousins and I were also relatively huge. The most fruitful red packet I would receive came from a cousin. He was very mysterious,. Every Chinese New Year, he sat on the bamboo chair in the front yard. Red packets are traditionally given by married couple to the unmarried for good luck and to ward off bad spirits. He was single but he gave the biggest red packet amongst everyone and all of us looked forward to it every year. The first thing on our To- do list during Chinese New Year would be to visit the temple early in the morning to pray for good fortune and health in the upcoming new year. It has been a ritual that we have followed religiously every year.

My GrandmotherIn the afternoon , my grandmother would continue theChinese New Year worship..Growing up, I am constantly in awe of mygrandmother. Being 92 years of age, she was really avery healthy old woman.My paternal grandmother is my inspiration in life, how she Video: Grandmothertakes care of herself and the way she lives life is how I want tobe like when I grow older.She is a strong old woman and the passing of age does not seemto have deterred energy level as she is still as active and livelyas ever every year as seen in the video and photos on the left.Stay healthy Ah Ma!I love you!

Reunion Dinner

Chapter 4: 2nd Day of Chinese New YearTypically, on the second day of Chinese New Year, my family would head back across to borderto celebrate Chinese new year with the maternal side of our family in Singapore.My maternal family would celebrate with a simple meal at my grandmother’s house such as theones seen in the picture above. It would be a simple affair, my mother and her 7 siblings andtheir family squeeze into the tiny HDB flat. It is in general, much less festive than thecelebrations in Malaysia.The contrast between the celebration in both country is huge due to the difference in theavailability of space and the restrictions of the nation itself,

EpilogueIt is the year 2017,, I am 23 years old.“ Ah girl. Can you go back to Malaysia for Chinese New Year this year?”“ I’m sorry, Mom. I can’t. I have school work that I have yet to complete.” I sighed.“ Ah ma is getting old, we should go back and see her more . Its not very often we goback to Malaysia. We need to make more effort to visit her.”“ I know, mom. I’m sorry.” I sighed, “ But if I need to get this work completed and Ahma’s house does not have Wi-Fi and I cannot get work done. ”“ Alright then, dear.”With the passing of time the importance of Chinese New Year in my heartchanged.. It becomes something of lesser and lesser significance to me as mypriorities shifted. In recent years, our family s have not been able to return to YongPeng, my father’s hometown due to various complications that we face. It is indeeda pity. However, the memories I had of celebrating the festival when I was youngwill always stay important to me.

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