Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
Four colour cards or 四色牌 was my grandmother’s favourite game to play when she was still around. Every Saturday afternoon, her sisters and her children, like my mum and aunties, will gather around her house to play. It was a regular thing even on Chinese New Year. There was always a big group of at least six to eight of them sitting around the big round table to play with at least two sets of Four Colour cards (224 cards) mixed.
Do you believe that the soul of a dead person will return to visit his/her family home on the seventh day after their death? Some Chinese believe this is what we call 回魂夜 (Huí Hún Yè) – the return of the dead’s night or 头七 (Tóu Qī).
During my visit to Haw Par Villa in August this year, one of the free exhibitions was the Yeo Swee Huat Paper Agency, which runs until the end of December 2022. It is located at the Cloud Pavilion that is next to the Culture Courtyard. It is an exhibition on the vanishing paper offerings trade which is typically used for temple festivities and funeral offerings.
A few months ago, I blogged about my Singapore trip to Haw Par Villa Hell’s museum and the 10 courts of Hell. One of the highlights of this trip was also learning about our dying cultural heritage: The Traditional Chinese Grave. This made me research Chinese tombstones and my uncle managed to provide me with my maternal grandfather’s tombstone photo, which is no longer around. They had exhumed his tomb and placed him along with my grandmother at Toa Payoh Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in 2013. I will tell you more about why we needed to exhume him in a minute.
One of the highlights of Haw Par Villa Hell’s museum in Singapore is their infamous 10 Courts of Hell. We Chinese believe that in the afterlife, we will get judged by our sins and punishments evolved as ancient civilisations shared their cultures across time and space.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Last week, I wrote a blog post about Chinese superstitions when entering a hotel room, this week I would like to share some tips of gift ideas to avoid buying for your Chinese friend. I find that it is sometimes not easy to understand one person culture but by learning through interaction or reading will help each other to understand and live in a better and tolerable environment.
Chinese Superstitions to enter a Hotel Room! Last February, my mum and sister both flew to the UK to visit us. While they were here, we all went on a road trip to Scotland. You can read more about our Scotland trip with Barny here.
A reunion dinner is held on the eve of the Chinese New Year, during which family members get together to celebrate. It used to be dinner time where all family members gather around but due to work or other family commitments, it can be any time of the day as long as it is on the eve.
