Shane and I are so thrilled to be back in Malaysia to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Dog zodiac with my mom, sister and her family. Like Christmas, this is the time of the year when families makes the effort to be together. Chinese Lunar New Year this year falls on February 16th. Today, I get to sit down in the quiet and write about how we celebrate this occasion. Before I proceed further…
Gong Xi Fa Cai greetings from my family to yours! May this Chinese Lunar New Year brings you good health, prosperity, happiness and peace of mind.
What is Chinese Lunar New Year without some traditional cookies, right? My sister Helen started baking pineapple tarts a week before the big day. She also bake chocolate chips, London Almond cookies and because she is married to an Indian, she added sugee cookies (that’s my favorite!) and muruku into her cookie stash.
We have been busy with our humanitarian work in Klang. As a result, I didn’t have the time to help my sister bake. However, on the eve of the Chinese lunar new year, we made sure to help clean the house and garden. All the adults (with the exception of Helen) and children participated. This last minute housework was really so stressful but we keep doing it every year!
Steam boat (hot pot) was our Chinese Lunar New Year Reunion dinner when we were young. We practice this dinner ritual regularly but this year we decided to skip. Instead, we had multi cultural dishes and the work just increased our stress level.
Imagine a small kitchen and everyone was trying to avoid getting into each other’s way! The occasion calls for practicing polite manners!!! It was HARD!!! But we did it!
Our Reunion dinner spread:
Mom made her famous Nyonya otak otak (grilled fish cake on banana leaves). Shane decided on lamb chops with a spicy minty sauce because the boys requested for it. My sister cooked a variety of Indian dishes; briyani rice, chicken varuval, sotong (squid) pretel, chicken korma and cucumber salad. A week ago she also pickled the Melaka Nyonya Acar Chili. I made a huge tray of Japanese gyoza. We laid banana leaves (like how the Indian would do it) but on plates because we were crowded on a small dining table and didn’t want to mess the place up.
Thank goodness it was an organized chaos and everyone was happily fed and contented at the end. We stayed awake until midnight to usher in the new year with very loud fire crackers. The adults gave out ang pows (red envelopes with money) to the children. They also received ang pows from overseas family members not able to come back for the holiday. Shane and I each gave one to my mom as a symbol of our filial love.
Spent the first day of the Chinese lunar new year eating left overs and being plain lazy.
There was no shortage of food since Helen has cooked a storm last night. Our uncle and his family came over for lunch. In most houses, families would spend the day playing mahjong or cards game. It was no difference here in ours. Sierinna, our niece took her piggy bank filled with coins and became the banker. She exchanged our Ringgits (Malaysian currency) with her coins. This girl didn’t know yet to charge interest! 😛 The bet was very small, it was only 10 sen a game. Shane helped Sierinna count her cards while we patiently wait for her.
Visit to Chempaka Buddhist Lodge for blessings
Today, we join Helen and family to the Chempaka Buddhist Lodge. This is their practice – to pray and receive blessings from the Buddhist monks.
The temple, located in Damansara Jaya is a 20 minutes car ride from Helen’s house. It’s entire compound is decorated with red lanterns and Chinese Lunar new year auspicious banners. There is a stage and arches for family photos and a section with cute paper dog origami collection. These combined make the festive atmosphere. A man dressed in the God of Prosperity costume walks around taking photos with families. He told Shane to stroke the gold nugget for good fortune!
My brother-in-law prays to Buddha and then the family makes oil offering and a small donation to the temple. Outside the hall, a few Buddhist monks are blessings families and tying yellow strings on their wrists. These Buddhist strings are believed to protect and bring good luck to the wearer. This is a nice temple to visit especially on auspicious days because of the offerings made by devotees.
Chempaka Buddhist Lodge Facebook Page
Visiting relatives is part of Chinese lunar new year practice
I love this part of our Chinese lunar new year tradition. Family and friends visit each other’s home to share the joy and festivities. We exchange ang pow and Mandarin oranges. Sometimes cookies are also included. Helen’s Muslim neighbor would send a tray of ‘Kuih Seri Muka’ and she gets a tray of mixed cookies. This is the Malaysia I love. This is why it is so fun to be back in Malaysia especially during this holiday.
