Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
Many Chinese believe that fish attracts the chi/good energy that brings good luck, abundance and prosperity (年年有余 Nian Nian You Yu – an abundant and surplus-filled year after year)! The number 9 in feng shui principles is the most auspicious and complete number. Hence in many Chinese paintings, pictures, ponds or aquariums, you will find nine fishes in it. In feng shui, they believe that eight fishes should be red or golden and one should be black (which symbolizes strength).
Earlier this year, I made a multitude of hong bao lanterns – do check out my Chinese New Year Pinterest board for inspiration. This latest hong bao mini lantern is quite unique as you are using wooden skewers to make the frame of the lantern instead of using sticky tape or staples to construct it.
For this mini lantern, I have used small rectangle hong baos (approx. 7.5 cm by 11.5 cm). The material of this hong bao is quite stiff so I didn’t need to insert any additional card to keep the shape.
If you can’t find it, make it yourself. This is one of my mottos in life. Many times, I have found it hard to buy accessories online to decorate my ang bao lanterns or my ang bao crafts. As these low value ang bao accessories are not worth listing individually online, many are sold in night markets, especially in Singapore Chinatown or Asian craft shops. If you live in a country as we do in the UK, we can’t even find them in any local Chinese supermarkets.
In the past, lanterns were used to provide light. They are also used for decoration, especially in the form of celebration and worship. This new year, I have made a lot of ang bao lanterns – do check out my Chinese New Year Pinterest board inspiration.
Today, I am going to show you the step-by-step instructions to make these cute ang bao mini lanterns! You can use it as an ornament for your plants or thread the mini lanterns in a roll to make a banner. There are many ways to make use of mini lanterns.
新年快乐, 祝你吉祥如意。Happy New Year and wishing you a prosperous year and may all your dreams come true. Let’s use ang baos to make a ‘Ji’/吉 word to bring good luck to your home! Ji or 吉 as a Chinese character means good luck.
“Tong Tong Chiang, Tong Tong Chiang, Tong Tong Chiang Tong Tong, Tong Tong Chiang.” Whenever this Chinese song 恭喜发财 is played on the radio, you know that we are going to celebrate Chinese New Year soon!
Going back to ancient Chinese New Year history, the nian monster would come out of its hiding place to feed on people and animals. To prevent this from happening, the villagers used firecrackers and fireworks to scare the monster away. They also believe that firecrackers and fireworks are used to drive away evil.
Today, I am showing you another craft to hide any unsightly items around the house this coming Chinese New Year. It can be used as a pot cover or a bowl. It is entirely your choice.
Need a quick fix to hide any unsightly-looking items around the house this coming Chinese New Year? Or want something beautiful to display items in your home? Then make yourself your very own ang bao basket and fill them with yummy delicious fruits, snacks or even flowers! You can even gift them as part of your wrapper for a CNY hamper.
Last month, I made a Chinese New Year ang pow wreath for my lotus lantern and now I am back with more for more creative crafts, which I will call a Hong Bao Wall Wreath. In fact, hong bao and ang pow are the same things. Hong bao is the Mandarin pronunciation and whilst ang pow or ang bao is the dialect pronunciation.
Wishing you all an abundant and surplus-filled year after year (年年有余 Nian Nian You Yu)! This is a commonly used expression we use to greet each other during the Chinese New year. 年 in Chinese means year and 余 (surplus) shares the same pronunciation with 鱼 (fish). Hence this ang pow fish lantern will surely bring wealth into your home! Come and try it out!
In two more weeks, it’ll be the end of the Year of the Tiger, and we will be celebrating the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit on 22 January 2023! I would like to take this opportunity to blog more on Chinese New Year crafts and hope you all like it.
Lucky lucky eight is so many Chinese people’s favourite number because eight (八 ba) sounds like 發 (fa) in Chinese, which means wealth, fortune, and prosperity! Hence many will pay extra for the number 8 in their phone number, car plate, house number and many more!
Impress your family and friends this Year of the Rabbit 2023 with this cute Chinese New Year Ang Pow candy pouch! This candy pouch is made from ang pow/red packet/red envelope and you can fill it with lots of sweeties and chocolates. If you are feeling rich, you could even fill them with cash instead! Everyone would love to receive one! Or you can make a few to decorate your house or your house plants.
Today, I am showing you how to make this ang pow gourd for Chinese New Year. You might be wondering what is the connection of gourd to the Chinese New Year. Gourd in Chinese is called 葫芦(hú lu) and it also sounds like 福禄(fú lù) in Chinese, which means fortune and wealth. Also, this fruit contains a lot of seeds and they symbolise productivity and fertility. Hence gourd is an auspicious item!
Want to send some love to your loved ones? Then come and make this ang pow heart lantern this Chinese New Year to show your appreciation! They can also be used for decorations for weddings! Just use wedding-themed ang pows instead.
