Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
This coming Chinese New Year of the Horse falls on 31 January 2014 (Friday). In Singapore, on the eve of Chinese New Year, everyone will go home to have a reunion dinner before heading to the temple (if you are Buddhist) or go to Chinatown or River Ang Bao or some might just stay at home!
Mandarin oranges play a major part in our Chinese New Year. It’s to do with way we pronounce the word, it sounds like fortune. Chinese people love to say only good words on Chinese New Year as it will bring them all the luck and fortune for the coming new year.
We have been busy making Chinese New Year Ang Bao/Pow Star. This is how we made it!
Fans are easy to make – it is mainly sticking and pasting or painting. While the kids had a go at making their fans, I also made two proper Chinese New Year Fans.
If you have been following my Chinese New Year series, you will have seen that I have made a Hello Kitty lantern, Hello Kitty Chinese coin, Fish lantern and Chinese lantern. Today, I made the Chinese New Year Firecracker, Chinese Fan, Chinese New Year Ang Bao/Pow Star with my children.
A New Year, a new start of year! For Chinese, we are just about to start our New Year. As in my previous post, I had mentioned about the Lunar New Year. So before the New Year, all households will do a spring clean to wash away the bad luck and welcome good fortune to the house. According to Feng Shui, it is good to de-clutter your house to allow the good feng shui energy in your home.
We tend to involve the whole household and spend at least a whole day to clean up. From washing windows, doors, walls, oven, kitchen to every corner of the house.
This time of year is one of the best times to travel to Asian countries, especially Singapore. Not only can you escape the bitter winter cold in the UK, but you will also get to enjoy the wide variety of food, colourful decorations and festive celebrations during Chinese New Year. As a proud Singaporean, I would love to share some of our delicious Chinese New Year goodies. Most of these treats are specially produced once a year to celebrate the festive season, making them even more special and eagerly anticipated.
Yesterday, I made a Hello Kitty Lantern and had a few Ang Bao/Pow left to make a Chinese Coin Lantern. If you would like to find out more on Chinese coins, click the link to direct you to Wikipedia. Some Chinese believe that carrying a Chinese coin in your wallet will also help to ward off evil spirits and bring in money. I am not sure how true it is but I do carry one in my wallet! These Chinese Coin Lanterns are much easier to make compared to other lanterns.
My two sisters-in-law are big fans of Hello Kitty so when I came across some Hello Kitty Ang Bao/Pow when I was last in Singapore, I bought some for them. I bought some for myself too and with these, I decided to make a lantern.
This year, Chinese New Year falls on 31 January 2014 and welcomes the Year of the Horse. In the Chinese zodiac, there is a repeating 12-year cycle, with each year represented by a different animal. The Horse is believed to symbolise energy, determination, strength, and freedom. In a future post, I will share more about the history and traditions behind the Chinese zodiac and how the different animals were chosen.
During this month, I am going to write a series of Chinese New Year posts from making lanterns, zodiac, Feng Shui to Chinese culture. This is my first blog post of my Chinese New Year series. Look out for the rest of the posts! Today, I am going to use Ang Pow (red packets) to make a Fish Lantern. So what is an Ang Pow? It is a red envelope/packet that contain a monetary gift which is given during Chinese New Year or special occasions like weddings or birthdays etc. They are called Hong Bao (红包) in Mandarin or Ang Pow/Bao in Singapore Hokkien or Lai See in Cantonese. Click here to read more about it.
This is a very simple and straightforward Chinese Lantern. The rating of difficulty is 1 out of 5. This is a very small lantern, which measures approximately 13 cm, not including the length of the Chinese knot tassel and string. It is an such easy craft for children to do and won’t take more than 15 minutes to do. It will make a great Chinese New Year theme craft for younger children. You can also make more than one lantern and join them all in a vertical roll or horizontally as a banner.
