Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year!  

My sister and I at my favorite places to eat in the city.

I am excited to celebrate my first Chinese New Year (Spring Festival).  This year I had to spend it away from my Chinese family  It is tradition to be with the whole family at the celebration but this year I had to be with my family in the USA.   My USA family didn't want me to feel left out and wanted to show Yu that they honor his traditions, so we had dinner together at my favorite place.  There are all kinds of traditions people have for their new year's dinner.  Each country that celebrates this holiday have different traditions and foods they make.  At the place I went with family, the owner, Yin, let me try something her mom made for lunar new year.  I thought it was very good.

People tend to wrap the food in different things, traditionally banana leaves.  Yin's mom used foil.

This is a sticky rice mung bean cake  In the very center is pork

My Chinese family had all kinds of foods.  It took a long time to make everything.  My mother-in-law was very busy.  Food holds meanings and has traditions behind them.  These traditions are similar to my family's traditions of having Christmas cookies around Christmas time.  It is also tradition to clean.  Cleaning the house before the New Year will make room for good luck to be welcomed into the home.

My mother-in-law starting to cook

Cooked beef tongue

Mom and Grandma making rice cakes

It is tradition to have everyone go home for the holiday.   Many people say no matter how far a person lives, they always come home for the New Year.  It is seen as being unlucky if you are not home for the holiday.  Being that I am taking care of my mom and working in the USA, going to China at this time was not something I could do.  So I had to stay in the USA.  There is a tradition that Yu told me about that I did not know of.  Through all my research and readings on The Spring Festival/Lunar New Year, I had no idea what would be done if the whole living family was not all there. 

There is a tradition that at the family meal  a plate of food is put off to the side for the member missing.  My mother-in-law told me that I will get my own plate and that Yu, my husband, would have to eat it for me.  Yu said he ate double that day and was so full.  This tradition is a symbolic meaning of having the whole family together.   This means no one is left out. 

In the USA, we don't have this tradition in some of our holidays.  At Thanksgiving, we don't have a plate for the missing person as a symbol.  Hearing about this tradition made me really happy.  It made me feel like I was not being left out or missing the celebration even though I was over 7,000 miles away.  Yu also made it so that people could video chat with me.  It was nice to see family and meet new family members I have not had the pleasure of meeting in person. 

There are many things people do for New Year, fireworks, eating food, worship time, and being with family.  I think the most important is being with family.  I love spending time with my family both in the USA and in China.  In the USA I was able to get together with my mom's side of the family with some of the family, not everyone.  Below are photos of our family time.  We sure had fun.  It was strange that all the adults were dressed in black and white clothes.

My sister and I having a great time after dinner.

My cousin's little boy.  He was very interested with the place we were at.  He loved telling everyone "Hi"

My mom and dad testing out Red Bean Ice Cream.  It was not their favorite.

My cousin and his little girl.  She was so cute trying to eat Red Bean Ice Cream.

My dad trying to figure out what team to cheer for during the Super Bowl 2016.

My aunt and uncle.  They were so happy to tell me about the New Year animal being the Fire Monkey. They missed Yu and wanted him to know that they will look forward to next year's party.

I am enjoying tea after my dinner.  I had a lot of fun with family and enjoyed being with everyone there.

What do you do for Lunar New Year?  Have you learned new traditions?  Have you ever missed a family gathering? If so, what do people do?