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Food Traditions and Symbols of Chinese New Year
Don't put away your party hats and noisemakers just yet. January 23 is Chinese New Year, and of course, it is celebrated with a huge Chinese feast!
The meal is actually referred to as a "reunion dinner" — one in which extended families get together to ring in the new year and new season. Since the 20th century, the holiday has also been called Spring Festival, as, according to the lunar calendar, winter ends and spring officially begins on this day. The Chinese don't have to wait for a groundhog to tell them its time to stop hibernating. But they do have an animal or symbol associated with the turn of the calendar. This year marks the year of the legendary dragon, who's believed to have divine powers.
Historically on this day families would meticulously clean their home to exorcise huiqi that, according to the History Channel, were "inauspicious breaths, which might have collected during the old year." And they believed the Gods would be coming to inspect their homes. "Ritual sacrifices of food and paper icons were offered to gods and ancestors. People posted scrolls printed with lucky messages on household gates and set off firecrackers to frighten evil spirits. Elders gave out money to children," as the History Channel explains. But the most significant part of the celebration was the grand feast. Each course had particular meaning and each course meant to bring the family luck in the coming years.
Here are a few of the dishes that are eaten on this holiday:
Long Life Noodles are eaten to bring longevity. They are uncut noodles prepared in a variety of ways and the longer the better.
Oranges, usually Mandarin, are eaten and given out as something sweet and because, in some dialects, the name also means "luck."
Dumplings At this festive meal they have special significance because of their shape, symbolizing family togetherness. They are often prepared with all of the generations of the family and are eaten at midnight. Some dumplings are also eaten to represent wealth and are shaped like ancient Chinese coins.
Spring rolls, or egg rolls, are also considered to bring good fortune, as their shape resembles that of a gold bar.
Buddha's Delight is a dish we've seen on many Chinese take-out menus, but on this day it holds a special significance. This strictly vegetarian dish (no animals should be sacrificed in Buddhism) is packed with 18 ingredients (a lucky number) and usually includes bamboo shoots, mushrooms, dried lily buds, and beans.
Jin Duey are sesame-coated rice balls (yum!) made from a glutenous flour that puffs up when fried. It's believed that they bring growing fortune because they expand.
Sweet cakes are eaten to represent the sweet life. A chewy Sticky Cake, or Nian Gow, represents a family's cohesiveness and closeness.
The last course of fish is not served to be eaten, but to represent abundance of wealth of the family. Often, the fish comes out with the head and tail intact, as the Chinese word for fish also sounds similar to wish (funny, that's sorta what it sounds like in English). It is included on the table as hope that the new year brings each family member what they wish for.
Happy eating, and may all your wishes come true.