Gong Xi Fa Cai.....Finally!!!

Well...I'm a little past due on this one but better late than never right?  On February 14th, 2010 we totally forgot about Valentine's Day and celebrated Chinese New Year instead.  While in Singapore we experienced our first Chinese New Year and welcomed in 2009....the year of the Ox.  2010 is the year of the Tiger.  The tiger seems like a much cooler animal than the Ox to me.  Also in Singapore, I was told Gong Xi Fa Cai meant Happy Chinese New Year.  Annie is enrolled in a Chinese Language Immersion class at school and informs me that not only do I pronounce it incorrectly but that it technically means wishing you good luck and a prosperous New Year.  I'll take her word for it.

Some of the decorations we brought to Utah from last year's celebration in Singapore.

We decided to bring some of what we learned in Singapore to Murray, Utah so we invited friends and family over to celebrate the Chinese New Year with us.  We started out by giving all the kids their "Hung Bao" or red envelope filled with money.  Red envelopes are mainly presented at social and family gatherings such as weddings or on holidays such as the Lunar New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits.  The amount of money contained in the envelope usually ends with an even digit, based on Chinese beliefs; for instance 88 and 168 are both lucky numbers, as odd-numbered money gifts are traditionally associated with funerals. But there is a widespread tradition that money should not be given in fours, or the number four should not appear in the amount, such as $40 or $400, as the pronunciation of the word "four" resembles that of the word "death", and it signifies bad luck for many Chinese.  The kids at our celebration received $8.88.  I think they felt lucky!

Henry & Annie with their Hung Bao and Jack wearing his Chinese outfit and hat complete with long, black braid.

Our friends Sophie and Chris sporting Chinese caps.

Our next item of business was to introduce the New Year Fish Salad or Yu Sheng.  Besides being full of flavors and textures, yu sheng is loaded with symbolic meaning. The raw ingredients signify the renewal of life, and the sound of the word for fish in Cantonese sounds like the word for prosperity. The most important (and fun) part of eating yu sheng is the mixing together of the ingredients. To ensure good luck for the coming year, everyone calls out "Lo hei!"-which means "to mix it up" but also sounds like "to prosper more and more"-while they use their chopsticks to toss the ingredients as high in the air as they can.  (By the way, I sort of copied the salad description from the internet.  Those that know me might have suspected as much when I said it was full of flavors and textures....because those that know me know I would never try this salad...I'm too picky!  I still participated in the tossing of the salad though making sure to be careful not to toss it on the floor...after all, I had just mopped!!!)

We had a great evening with great company and look forward to celebrating again in 2011...the Year of the Rabbit...not really as cool as the Tiger but kind of cute anyway.


Also included in our Chinese New Year festivities this year was watching Annie perform in her Chinese New Year program at school.  She HAD to wear her red Chinese dress and did an awesome job even if I didn't understand a word she said!