GUO NIAN HAO! (Happy New Year!!)
Most foreigners do not like this time of year. Firecrackers
go off at all hours of the day and many hours of the night. ::PONG! PONG!
PONG!!::
I, however, LOVE it!! Chun Jie (Chinese New Year) may now be
my favorite holiday. It’s like our American Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 4th
of July all wrapped in to one holiday. Fantastic! It’s such a wonderful time
for family, friends, and fireworks. I love it.
It may have come from my Uncle Ryan’s influence, but I LOVE
the fireworks. It’s so cool to be on the 15th floor and watch the
fireworks that are going off right at the door of your apartment building. The
beautiful ones are right at your eye-level. How cool is that?
I love sitting in my apartment, (which is on the 7th
floor,) and running from the north side to see the fireworks I hear going off,
and then run to the south side as I see and hear fireworks (the beautiful kind)
going off over there. I also love the huge BAM! fireworks, though they can be
jarring to the nerves and distracting to one’s sleep. But, where else can you
experience such a show for so little money? (aka -- It's FREE.)
The whole country of China is setting off fireworks at the
same time and I get to be an observer. Wahoo! And how exciting that it doesn’t
just happen on one day, but extends for a couple weeks after the first day of
the Spring Festival?!
(Most of my foreign colleagues, on the other hand, flee to
other countries during our two-week Chun Jie break from school. They go to the
Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, any where else where the people
are not so enthusiastic about scaring away the evil spirits with their red
fire.)
The date for Chun Jie is determined by the Lunar calendar.
This year it was the 10th of February, but the celebrating begins on
the 9th of February. The whole extended family is supposed to gather
together at the patriarch’s house to celebrate. Expensive foods (meats, fruits,
wines,) are purchased and prepared. Expensive gifts (milk, oil, eggs, fruit,
specialty foods, bai jiu) are purchased and given when you visit relatives’ and
friends’ homes. (This is to show honor and respect. The more expensive the
gift, the better. It signifies a greater appreciation and giving of honor and
thoughtfulness. Last year I “appropriately” brought and gave a HUGE basket of
tangerines. This year I realized that wasn’t expensive enough. Too typical, especially,
I think, for me, a Westerner, to bring. This year I brought tangerines,
expensive wine, and some pre-cooked salmon from Seattle. I did much better this
year. I hope!!)
In the day of preparation, the mothers (and some fathers) prepare
the food. The most important food to be prepared is the jiao zi (dumplings)
that will be eaten at midnight. Other Chinese dishes are made for earlier
consumption. Fruit and nuts are ALWAYS out. This is to show prosperity and to
welcome in the wealth of the New Year. (I think. I hypothesize.) I made sure to
limit my eating before going to my friend’s home. Last year they kept telling
me, “Chi! Chi!” (“Eat! Eat!”) I wanted to be sure to have PLENTY of room for
food this year.
Around 8pm a special Chinese New Year Gala TV show begins.
(This has been going on for around 27 years.) It seems that it promotes
national unity and a preservation of tradition and culture. Various singers,
dancers, magicians, comedians, etc. perform on the show for about four hours. I
find it interesting to watch. Most young people and some middle-aged people
think it’s boring, but they turn it on anyways. They must. It’s tradition and
Chinese. This year, Celine Dion performed. (Maybe because this last year Titanic came to the screen in 3D and the
young people LOVE it.) Celine did well, and was well received. I saw another
foreign performer being interviewed before the show. The interviewer asked (in
English), “Are you nervous? You know, this is the MOST WATCHED TV show in China
(and the world)!” Indeed. The foreigner, apparently, felt pretty secure. I saw
his performance. He did well.
Throughout the evening you are supposed to send messages to
your friends (now with technology you may send these messages through email or
text message or “QQ” – equivalent to Facebook,) wishing them “all the best luck
for the New Year.” If they are a close friend, you give them a more personal
message and express your appreciation for their friendship. I guess, in the
past, you sent them cards.
A few minutes before midnight you begin hearing the sound of
the firecrackers exploding. The people begin to emerge from their apartments to
scare away the evil spirits at midnight. This is a CRAZILY WONDERFUL time of
CHAOS! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! The apartments are so close together and there are so
many people living in the apartments, people and firecrackers are everywhere.
You have to really watch yourself so that you don’t get hit by flying
firecracker shrapnel. The neighbors do not look out for you or warn you that they
are lighting a firecracker at your feet. (Last year, I was about to be pelted
because I was in a state of awe. My friend’s dad grabbed my arm and pulled me
into the doorway of the apartment for safekeeping. Don’t injure the foreigner!)
The noise is (literally) explosive. You do not need much of
an imagination to pretend like you are on a battlefield. Some fireworks are the
HUGE ones that BOOM and seem to shake the ground under your feet. Car alarms go
off everywhere. (Why do people even keep
them on during Chun Jie?) You hear, “BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!” In the lulls between
the, “KA-BOOM!!!” of the firecrackers.
And, while all these things are happening around your feet,
pieces of firecracker fly at you, and then huge boxes of the beautiful flower
fireworks explode. The Fourth-of-July-American in me takes time to “Ooh!” and
“Aah!” at the beauty. My Chinese counterparts don’t really do the same.
(...to be continued...)
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