What is kopi? Or do you mean ‘copy’? No! Kopi means coffee in a Hokkien dialect. If you are a coffee drinker, then you should know the different types of kopi meaning, especially in Singapore and Malaysia.
The Don’t Dos during the Ghost festival
A few years back, I wrote an article about the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival but I didn’t elaborate on the don’t dos during this festival. Now, I would love to share some tips and hope everyone stays safe during this period. Even if you aren’t superstitious or don’t believe in ghosts, it is best to show respect to the Chinese culture and people who do believe while you are in Asian countries.
Dumpling Craft for Dragon Boat Festival
It was the Dragon Boat Festival again, which is also known as the Duanwu Festival. This year it fell on the 18th June 2018 which is the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar.
As some of you may remember, I help run Lichfield Mandarin Club which started six years ago and we often do arts and crafts with the children, especially with themes based on Chinese festivals. So this school term, one of the mummies Ailin organized some party games for the children.
Chinese Wedding Gifts
For English weddings, the bride and groom typically have a list of wedding gifts but for Chinese, we are more practical. All we want is money, partially to pay for the wedding costs and partially to pay your mother-in-law!
Chinese New Year Traditions
Ever since I moved to the UK for work, I have found it hard to keep up or observe the proper Chinese New Year traditions my mum used to teach me. I think part of it is because I have forgotten how it was as I have not been back to Singapore for 8 years during this festive period and another part of it is because I want to be a modern woman who doesn’t need to follow the superstitious rules.
Paper Chinese Dragon Boat Race
Yesterday we were celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival, which is also known as the Duanwu Festival, and falls on the 9th June 2016. It occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar. The festival involves eating dumplings (zongzi – sticky rice) and racing dragon boats! If you want to know how the dumplings look like, check out my post I wrote two years ago.
As some of you might remember that I help run Lichfield Mandarin Club which started four years ago and I like to involve arts and crafts with the children especially Chinese festival. So this school half term, I organized a Dragon Boat festival.
Learn Chinese Numbers using LEGO
Want to learn simple Chinese numbers using LEGO? Then read on and see how we incorporate LEGO into our daily life! Many of my readers will know that I love to use crafts to teach my children or our Lichfield Mandarin Club’s children in Chinese language. For example, we used ang pow (red packets) to make a Chinese character sheep, used old ang pow to write Chinese character Monkey, practised writing Chinese New Year words on balloons, 3D paper cutting Spring character and many more.
Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival
The Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival is also known as Zhong Yuan Jie. In Chinese culture (especially Asian countries), the Chinese Lunar seventh month calendar is regarded as the Ghost Month in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, release from the lower realm (Buddhist- the wheel of Samsara) for the whole month. During this month, there will be a grand scale of praying and celebration which will have Getai (singing in Hokkien or Teochew) and dinner with bidding for lucky things on such a night.
Dragon Boat Festival & Dumpling
This year Dragon Boat Festival falls on this coming Monday 2 June 2014 which is today! There are a few versions of how the history came about. For what I learnt at school it is about Qu Yuan. He was a poet and minister (c. 340–278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu. To cut the long story short, he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River. The local people raced out to save him but was unable to do so. So they dropped balls of sticky rice (dumpling) into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan’s body.
Chinese Confinement 坐月
What is Confinement?
It is a postnatal practice aimed at helping a new mum recover from pregnancy, labour and birth. It also means the new mum and baby are confined at home. For Chinese, the period lasts for a whole month, which will coincide with baby’s first month. During this time, the new mums have a lot of taboos and restrictions.
Chinese Baby First / Full Month Celebration
In many countries like the USA, they celebrate baby shower before the baby is born. As for Chinese custom, this is traditionally celebrated one month after the baby is born. This also coincides with the end of the new mum’s confinement period. During the confinement period, visiting the new mum and baby is not advisable. The full month is the day where both mother and baby are introduced to the extended relatives and friends.
Chinese Wedding – Bridal Door Game
You might be wondering what is a Bridal Door Game? This is a game played when the groom picks up his bride on the day of the wedding. The bridesmaids will give the groom and his group of ‘brothers’ (best men) a list of tasks/games to do before the groom is allowed to fetch his bride. But they have to pass all the tasks/games!
Chinese Wedding Page Boy / Small Uncle
Hope you’ve enjoyed my Chinese Wedding series so far where I have covered gifts, tea ceremony, hair combing ceremony and Yue Lao. This week, I am writing about ‘small uncle’ or in English tradition this is called a Page Boy. In a Chinese Wedding, our ‘small uncle’ have a very important role than just walk together with the bride.
Chinese Wedding Yue Lao
Following my recent theme on Chinese traditions, I decided to write about Yue Lao who is the god of marriage. Without him, there wouldn’t be any wedding. According to legend, Yue Lao appeared as an old man under the moon. He is like cupid but instead of holding a bow and arrow, he is holding a red string. If he ties the red string onto the couple, they will fall in love and get married.
Chinese Wedding Combing Hair Ceremony
I am back with more Chinese Wedding posts! This week I am going to write about the combing hair ceremony. Do check out my Chinese tea ceremony and wedding gifts if you missed those!
Why it is necessary for hair combing (梳頭, shūtóu)?
Chinese believe that it will bring long and lasting marriage. So both bride and groom will have their own hair combing ceremony.
When should it be done?
It is conducted on the eve of the wedding by the women, typically the parents.
In this photo of my aunty, the ceremony is done before the groom came to fetch the bride. Both parents said the four blessings:
一梳梳到尾 (1st combing, be together till the end of the road)
二梳百年好合 (2nd combing, happiness and harmony together till old age)
三梳子孙满堂 (3rd combing, blessed with many children and grandchildren)
四梳白发齐眉 (4th combing, blessed with longevity)
