Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy lunar new year everyone!  :D

I'm not Chinese, though many people say I look like one.  I am a pure bred, 100% Filipino and proud of it.  But anyway, this piece is not about being nationalistic, but rather about Chinese New Year.

Like the western new year, the Chinese New Year is also a celebration of the end of the previous year and welcoming of a brand new year.  The only difference is that it is celebrated on a different day, which is based on the lunar calendar... thus, lunar new year.

Like I said, I'm not Chinese, but I've heard of the Chinese new year since I was but a little, young girl back in the Philippines.  Perhaps because of the Chinese and Filipino-Chinese living in the Philippines, it has become a well-known Chinese event.  But as a young girl, I only remember one thing about Chinese New Year... TIKOY (or Nian gao in Chinese)!  It's a glutinous rice cake common to Chinese cuisine but most specially popular during the new year.  Every lunar new year, my brothers and I would eagerly savor this "tikoy", not really knowing what it is for and what it meant for the season.  Well, we were kids and we just wanted to devour the yummy stuff.  :P

As I've learned from a little bit of research, this glutinous cake is a symbol of good luck when eaten at this time because it's name "nian gao" is a homonym for "higher year".  So eating "tikoy" on a new year, "has the symbolism of raising oneself higher in each coming year" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nian_gao).

As I grew older and now that I live in a predominantly Chinese community, not to mention that I have Chinese friends, I learned more and more about the Chinese culture and the lunar new year.  Like Christians and westerners, they do have a lot of items that symbolize good things for the new year.  Each symbol is a representation of something, something that is always good and positive.  Not really much different from the western symbols, I would say.

So, to my friends and to everyone celebrating the lunar new year... Gong Xi Fa Cai!  May the year of the metal rabbit be prosperous and blessed for all of us.  :)