Happy Lunar New Year!!!
Lunar New Year 2018 is upon us! It's an official school holiday in NYC, and there is so much for those who celebrate to do! There are families to visit, meals to be had, red envelopes to receive, firecrackers to pop, and lions to watch dance in the streets. It’s a time of generosity and the hope for a prosperous new year, and millions of families around the world wish one another Gong Hay Fot Choy! (Happy New Year!)
For the best of luck, there are many foods to eat this week: long noodles (longevity), whole fish (prosperity), dumplings and spring rolls (wealth), sweet rice balls (family togetherness), glutenous rice cakes (promotions and raises), and fruit (success). Don't forget to also wear your lucky colors and hang bright and colorful decorations. There are also activities you shouldn't do: use scissors (cut's wealth), sweep (you could sweep out good luck), or say negative things (you don't want to jinx yourself with misfortune.)
Celebrating with Mountains and Moons
In my humble opinion, a little reading in the days leading up to the New Year is also a wonderful way to celebrate. My favorite book to read in this time is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, written and illustrated by Grace Lin. (Yes, I know, my dear Steemians, it’s another YA book. I promise other forms of art and adult books will also be featured soon!) The story is an epic one, and like all truly good fables and legends, it clings to your thoughts long after the last page is turned. Most particularly, because its themes of thankfulness, generosity, and friendship are so strong and penetrating, even a simple bowl of rice shared among three, overflows with magic.
Here’s a simple summary:
Minli lives with her parents on Fruitless Mountain. She spends her days working in the fields with her family and her nights listening to her father, Ba, spin fantastic tales about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli’s mother, Ma, tired of the life of poverty that they share, thinks all of these stories are a waste of time. They should just accept their fate and the bitterness of their existence. But Minli has a different spirit. She believes in her father’s stories about the Old Man of the Moon, and maybe with his help, their fate may not be set in stone. After a particularly sad day with her parents, she sets out on a journey to find the Old Man of the Moon and ask him how her family can change their fortune.
The journey is a long one, and after a run in with a gang of very selfish monkeys, Minli befriends a bright-red dragon who is very brave, but cannot fly. They team up together to search for the Old Man of the Moon. In each town they visit, they meet generosity and friendship at every turn, even from those who are less fortunate. They also skirt dangerous foe, like a deadly green tiger, and find a world full of magic and legend.
In the end, when Minli finally meets the Old Man of the Moon, she makes a remarkable decision that does indeed change her family’s fate forever, but the question she asks the Old Man is in not the one she set out with. She is wiser now, more thoughtful, changed as all heroes are after a journey.
The Secret to Happiness
So what does it mean to be fortunate? Prosperous? Lucky? That’s a question worthy of deep consideration. When I ask my Chinese and Chinese-American friends this question, they tell me prosperity is a whole package filled with many things: wealth, the birth of children, advancement, health, and happiness. I can’t help but linger on the last one: happiness.
In Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, there is a whole village that is known for its happiness. The secret is written on a sheet of paper torn from the Old Man of the Moon’s Book of Fortune. It’s only one word, written over and over again in a line. (I won’t tell you what it says exactly, because I hope you go and read the book! But I will say…it would be impossible not to be happy, if you practice what it says.)
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that gratitude can lead to generosity. Generosity can lead to a shared prosperity. Shared prosperity can open our eyes to our own fortune, and hopefully when we see it, we will be moved again to gratitude and the cycle will continue. Maybe that’s what Lunar New Year is all about: gratitude changes our fortune for the better.
The Prosperity of Gratitude
What I've come to understand, thanks to my friends, is that Chinese culture teaches us that even though at times our fortune may be curbed by life’s challenges, a bit of hope, luck, and hard work can get us far beyond it—and if you honor your family—even farther.
So as the lions scare away anything bad in the shops, and as the firecrackers splitter and splatter in the streets, I wish you, my dear Steemians, Gong Hay Fot Choy!
Here's a Cantonese Fish Recipe Good for All Year Around!
PHOTO/IMAGE CREDITS:
Hero image and eggs by plusgreenmedia
Illustrations from Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
NYC Chinatown New Year celebrations by Reena Rose Her stuff is amazing! Check it out.
Ginger and Scallion Fish by Elise McMullen-Ciotti