新年快乐!
Today is Chinese New Year, and our multicultural house is celebrating the beginning of spring (not quite there yet in Canada!) and the beginning of the year of the Snake.
Mark and I dressed in red for the day, and we hung a 福 (the Chinese characters for “good luck”) upside down at the front door. We are watching Beijing TV on the computer and Feng really wishes he could find a few firecrackers to celebrate properly—but no such luck in Canada.
Welcome to our Canadian-Chinese-French household where traditions and customs from all over the world are celebrated!
Mark was born in the year of the Dragon that is coming to a close today. I didn’t exactly plan it but this sign is considered very auspicious in China and my in-laws were quite happy to have a “baby dragon”. Feng is a tiger, another great sign, and I am… a pig. Yep. Guess my French parents didn’t check the Chinese horoscope before deciding to have their first child!
Wherever we are in the world, we’ve always celebrated Chinese New Year one way or another, including making dumplings in hostels a couple of times or heading to the nearest Chinese restaurant.
Today, our main task was to “包饺子”, i.e. make the traditional chive and celery dumplings. We took turn putting the homemade filling (chive, celery, meat and spices) in the little wrapping squares and had dinner with my in-laws.
Happy Chinese New Year to all of you!
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