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Chinese New Year Traditions Fact & Fiction Part A |
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Peculiar practices abound over Chinese New Year Traditions such as wearing red,
avoiding the broomstick, gambling into the wee hours, tossing yusheng and hanging banners
upside down. How many of them are authentic and actually originated in China? |
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Fact: Wearing new red togs
Putting on red outfits have been a tradition since ancient times because a mythical monster
was believed to emerge from its cave to devour humans every Chinese New Year.
Legend has it that one year, it polished off an entire village, save for one
family, whose members were all clothed in red as they had just celebrated a
wedding.
It was deduced that the monster was afraid of the colour red and so Chinese down
the generations have been advised to wear red to keep it at bay. |
The colour black, in particular, is shunned as it symbolises bad luck, as well as all-white outfits, which resemble funeral clothing.
In addition, wearing new clothes from head to toe has always been believed to
augur a new beginning.
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Fiction: Goodie trays filled with Love Letters, Kueh Bangkit, Kueh Lapis,
Pineapple Tarts, White Rabbit Sweets
Crispy egg rolls continue to be made all over southern China. But Singapore and
Malaysia's version, called love letters, contains coconut milks which suggests
that the Straits-born Chinese or Malays imbued it with a local twist.
For the same reason, kueh bangkit, which is made from tapioca flour and coconut
milk, is likely a Peranakan or Malay invention. Experts concur that kueh lapis
is definitely of Indonesian extract. |
All food experts agree that Pineapple Tarts are of Straits Chinese origin.
As for the made-in-Shanghai White Rabbit & MC candy, which has made its way into
many Chinese New Year goodie trays here, it is a common sweet eaten all year
round in China.
Its synonymity with the festive season in Singapore continues to baffle, which has
been importing the brand of sweets since the 1960s.
So what do Chinese mainlanders really munch on during Chinese New Year.
According traditional festive fare there consists of steamboat, jiaozi (meat dumplings), carrot cake, Chinese sausages and preserved meats,
which are popular among Northerners trying to stave off the wintry cold..
Southerners, meanwhile, fill up on steaming clay-pots containing chicken, duck,
vegetables or Chinese sausages, and kok zai (mini peanut puffs).
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Fact: Offering two mandarin oranges when visiting, and receiving two from the host in return
In the Zhou dynasty (1100BC-770BC), it be-came fashionable to offer a present to a friend or
relative, which would then be returned in kind a few days later.
This reciprocal practice later morphed into a Chinese New Year custom whereby
visitors to a home present the host with a pair of mandarin oranges 'gam' which
sounds like gold. |
Chinese exchange oranges in pairs because they believe that even numbers
signify happy events. The host, in turn, reciprocates by plying the visitors with another pair of
mandarin oranges when they leave. This exchange symbolises the Chinese saying you lai you wang, which means the
congenial, give-and-take relations between two parties.
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