Chinese New Year 2021 or the Spring Festival falls on February 12, with this year as the year of the Metal Ox.
This is the first time that we would be in Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year. It's supposed to be the biggest festival in all of China, but with the pandemic, everything is muted.
Festivities and public celebrations are cancelled in favor of social distancing. No Chinese parade (Dragon dance) at Tsim Sha Tsui, or fireworks at Victoria Harbour. For a full list the cancelled festivities, check this site.
I'm not big on traditions but I can very much say that I wish I can see what their New Year's eve look like.
What thing I did notice, while living at Sham Shui Po market is the change in the items being sold in each stall. Suddenly, the stall selling vegetables is now half-filled with various types of plants associated with money or good fortune, like a money plant; and tons and tons of beautiful flowers! The potted orchids displayed are exquisite, but expensive!
Following are some of the traditions observed by the Chinese during Spring Festival.
1. The house is decorated by beautiful flowers! This is spring, so bloom is the order. I'm more of a plantita, so I bought potted plants that would bloom even indoor.
2. Mandarins, Oranges and Clementines are the auspicious fruits! This is because the color orange is close to gold. Gold represents wealth and good fortune.
A funny story: Hubby bought these giant Mandarins not knowing the meaning behind. He found them amusing because of their size. I mean, as a Pinoy, we're only used to the size of a Kiat-kiat. These Mandarins are the size of coconuts.
According to hubby's colleague, we're not to eat them before Chinese New Year. They're supposed to decorate the table together with the flowers.
3. Red Packets (Hung4 Baau1) or what we call ampao in the Philippines, is the lucky red envelope containing crisp notes. This one I'm very familiar with. Hubby regularly brings them back to the Philippines when he vacations.
You give them to family, friends and officemates as a good luck. You're not supposed to take out the notes immediately but keep them. Huh?! Tell that to Pinoys!
Aside from the above, I've also learned things that you're supposed to avoid during Chinese New Year, to ensure that your good fortune would last the entire year.
1. Apparently, you're not allowed to clean the house for the first 5 days of the New Year, hence, the intense cleaning of the entire house a day before! Uhh, I don't think I can adhere to this one!
2. No cutting of hair for the first month of the year. So, make your hair appointments before, not after. If you do, bad luck would hound your uncle at the maternal side. Now, as to how that is, I have no explanation.
3. Eat a longevity noodle without cutting the noodle! Yup, that's right. You're supposed to slurp that noodle end-to-end without cutting it. The name of the noodle is self-explanatory.
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