Chinese New Year
This year, Chinese New Year is the Year of the Tiger.
People born in the Year of the Tiger are characterised as being brave, competitive and confident. But, on the other hand, they can sometimes be unpredictable, irritable, and overindulgent.
Lucky numbers for people born in the Year of the Tiger are one, three and four, and their lucky colours are blue, grey and orange. Their lucky flowers are cinerarias and anthuriums.
The New Year festival is centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and customs. Traditionally, the festival was a time to honour deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mauritius, Australia, and the Philippines. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours.
Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year’s Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly clean the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for incoming good luck. Windows and doors are decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “good fortune” or “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”.
Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes. In about one third of the Mainland population, or 500 million Northerners, dumplings (especially those of vegetarian fillings) feature prominently in the meals celebrating the festival.
Chinese food is one of our nations favourite meals enjoyed eating out or in, as a take-away or home-made.
If you choose to make some delicious Chinese food to help celebrate the Chinese New Year, here are 3 of my favourite Chinese dishes.
