The food (Cantonese)
was excellent and the proprietor, Mike, and I soon became quite friendly.
I remained a loyal customer and Mike a good friend and somewhere along
the line, I started celebrating Chinese New Year each year at Mike's
restaurant.
Because of Mike and his lovely wife
Helen, I became interested in Chinese culture, Chinese food and Chinese
civilization in general. The Chinese people form one of the oldest existing
civilizations and cultures in the modern world. They have contributed
some marvelous things to the world such as gunpowder. If gunpowder had
not been invented, how different the world would have been. For one
thing, the fourth of July would be pretty boring, now wouldn't it? They
also made the first manufactured magnets. They discovered that if they
heated iron ore until it was red hot and oriented it in a north-south
direction, as it cooled it would magnetically align with the earth's
magnetic field. These little magnets were then floated on a piece of
reed in a bowl of water marked with directional markings. The first
known and recorded use of a compass!
Paper made of bamboo was recorded
in China around the year 105 A.D. And, the Great Wall of China is the
largest and longest continuous wall in the world. It is also the only
man-made structure that, according to our astronauts, can be seen with
the naked eye from the moon. This magnificent wall averages a width
of about 20 feet and a height of about 26 feet. It took hundreds of
years to complete and it is said that if the material used to build
the wall was separated and placed end to end there would be enough to
circle the earth 5 times.
They didn't skimp on New Year, either.
The Chinese Calendar
In China today the old familiar
(to us) Gregorian calendar is used for civil functions but the Chinese
calendar is used to determine holidays. Unlike most calendars, the Chinese
calendar does not keep consecutive years but, instead, runs in 60-year
cycles, and years have names that reappear every 60 years. The name
of each year is indecipherable; there are no English equivalents for
the names. This component of the calendar is called the Celestial Branch.
The current 60-year cycle started February 2, 1984. As one studies the
cycles one notes that the time span between New Year's celebrations
is not exactly one year, as we count it. There are various factors that
are too time-consuming to go into here (one has to do nearly infinite
astronomical calculations) but here are a couple of hints: An ordinary
year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year then
has 353, 354 or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384 or 385 days.
The second component of the Chinese
calendar, and the one the west is most familiar with, is called the
Terrestrial Branch, which uses the name of the corresponding animals
of the Zodiac cycle.
The Chinese Zodiak
The Chinese Zodiac runs on a 12-year
cycle. Within the 60 year Celestial cycle there will be 5 Terrestrial
cycles. Legend says that it started from Buddhism and states that Buddha
decided to honor all the animals of China. So he sent out an invitation
to all animals to come to his bedside but, of them all, only 12 animals
came. To honor these 12 animals for their devotion, he created a year
for each animal. The animals that appeared were the rat, ox, tiger,
rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and the pig.
Each animal is believed to have certain qualities and anyone born in
a certain year will have the qualities of that animal. In the Chinese
Zodiac, I was born in the year of the Snake. The qualities of the Snake
are: discreet, refined, and intelligent.
This year, 2004, is the year of
the Monkey. If you were born in any of these years, your sign is Monkey:
1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, and 2004. The next year of the Monkey
will be twelve years hence in 2016. If you are a Monkey your qualities
are said to be: witty, popular, good humored, and versatile. Next year
the celebration will be on February 9, 2005 and it will be the year
of the Rooster.
In China, New Year preparations
begin well before the actual day. There are various rituals and activities
that are still practiced today by many Chinese people all over the world.
But, China, like the rest of the world, is slipping into modernity and
in many of the more urban areas many ancient rituals are no longer practiced.
However, China is a large country
containing the largest population in the world. A large part of the
country is still rural and the folks in these areas tend to hold on
to old traditions. Which, I think, is good.
Chinese New Year Traditions
A week before the actual celebration,
the family guardian known as the Kitchen God, is offered sweets so that
when he is burned and rises to heaven, he will say good things about
the family; sometimes he is given honey so he cannot open his mouth!
The New Year is the time to settle
debts. Some people still feel shamed if they haven't paid all their
debts by the New Year. Sweeping the dust of the house out via the front
door sweeps away good fortune; it is swept inward to the center of the
room then carried out the back door. At the stroke of midnight fireworks
are set off to celebrate the New Year. At the same time, all the doors
and windows are open to let out the old year. Red is the preferred color,
believed to bring the wearer a bright future.
Food is not forgotten, either. The
Chinese, like the rest of us, always have lots of food to celebrate
their holidays and it abounds at the New Year's season. Many of the
traditional holiday foods are attributed special qualities:
Bamboo shoots symbolize everything
being well.
Lotus Seed-brings many male offspring
Dried Dark Bean Curd for wealth
and happiness
White bean curd is considered unlucky
and not eaten because white is the color of death and if eaten would
signify death and misfortune.
A family may give, or eat together,
a whole fish to represent togetherness and abundant living; or a whole
chicken, which symbolizes prosperity. And finally, the huge, huge amounts
of food prepared and eaten throughout the season symbolize abundant
wealth for the household.
So, Mike . . . thanks for all the
good meals and pleasant memories. I hope you are still in business and
I hope the Oriental Wok is as big as ever. Where ever you are, Happy
New Year!
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