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[East Aisa This Week] EP33 - Why Lunar New Year is not just Chinese New Year? How other Asian Countries Celebrate it.

• Meara He • Season 2 • Episode 32

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Music Credit
Composer / Writer / Author: KROTOV VLADYSLAV, IPI: 378003660, MoodMode.

Speaker 1:

Hi everyone, welcome to the new episode of A Book with Bubble Tea. I'm your host, mira. How are you doing as you listen to this episode? On February 9th, we are on the eve of one of the most important days for many Asians around the world yes, the Lunar New Year's Eve. Tomorrow marks the start of the first day of the new year. If you've ever seen a dragon dance in shopping malls where, sadly, you notice there are so many red things around you, like red lanterns, clothes, red paper and probably you heard some really tacky music before that sounds like ancient ladies singing, like something like that then there is a very good chance that you stumble upon a Lunar New Year celebration. However, this cliche image of celebration the Lunar New Year is primarily the ethnic Chinese way. Lunar New Year is, in fact, not synonymous with Chinese New Year. It might be treated as such in English, but it shouldn't be, because there are many more countries in Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year and each one has its own unique traditions. In today's episode, we are setting off an extraordinary journey to celebrate the Lunar New Year, which is a festival that goes beyond the border of China and beyond Chinese communities around the world, and it touched hard and ignited celebrations in numerous countries across East and Southeast Asia. So follow me and let's experience this cultural diversity together. Welcome to A Book with Bubble Tea With your host, mira Heed. Here I share takeaways from East Asian books on parenting, startups and self-growth, seeking insights beyond the typical English shelf, want to be a better parent and achieve more in life? You are in the right place. Grab your bubble tea and let's dive in Unveiling the Lunar New Year At its core.

Speaker 1:

The Lunar New Year marks the arrival of spring and is determined by the Lunar Solar Calendar aligning with the second new moon after the winter solstice. So the winter solstice is usually the coldest day of the year. This celestial event dictates the festival's timing, which can fall sometime between late January and early February, bringing together communities and a vibrant celebration of renewal and togetherness. This is particularly important back in the day, when most of the people they need to farm, they need to plant rice. So they look at the lunar calendar to determine when they harvest, when they plant, when to do a lot of things, when it may rain, when, like I said, it's the hottest day of the year, when is the coldest day of the year. So they follow a particular lunar calendar. But, to be honest, fewer and fewer people actually follow the lunar calendar these days, so most of us actually don't know when the second new moon is anymore. So we just Google it and that's how we know when is the new year. But even if that is the case, to many Asians the Lunar New Year is the most important day of the year, so this is deeply rooted in ancient Chinese agriculture.

Speaker 1:

Today's Lunar New Year is more about unity. It's time when families and relatives gather to celebrate. People usually return to where their parents live, and many siblings, uncles, aunties and cousins only see each other once a year. Traditionally, the Lunar New Year celebration in the Chinese community lasts at least 16 days, If you start counting from the New Year's Eve, and it always starts with a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve and ends with the Lantern Festival and some sticky rice balls stuffed with sesame or peanuts paced on the 15 days of the new year. But in modern times the duration of celebration of the new year can vary, like in Hong Kong it's usually a three-day holiday, but in Taiwan it's about five to seven days. But in mainland China this can be celebrated for up to 40 days, because for many workers in China, this is the only time they actually visit their family and, considering how big China is, some of them need days to just like travel back home. If you think about this, like, 40 days is really the minimum. They need to really celebrate this holiday with their family. Alright, now let's see how Lunar New Year is celebrated in other neighboring countries.

Speaker 1:

In Korea, both South and North Korea, the Lunar New Year is known as Sula I'm just trying to pronounce it here. It's a holiday that spans over three days. Koreans will visit their families, pay tribute to their ancestors, wear their traditional clothes, which is called hanbok, and play some traditional games like yudnori and obviously, in the modern days, people don't always do that, but according to my Korean friends, if you are a newly wed couple, you will definitely wear the traditional clothes hanbok to visit your husband's family during this Lunar New Year celebration. It's the day when Koreans grow a year older, whereas in Vietnam, the Lunar New Year is called ttit nuong dan. It's also the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture, when people actually return home to celebrate with family.

Speaker 1:

Usually, the Vietnamese New Year takes place exactly as the Chinese New Year, but occasionally it can be different too. For example, in 1943, vietnam actually celebrated the Lunar New Year a month after China. And there is another difference in the Vietnamese Lunar New Year culture, which is this Chinese Zodiac system. So Chinese and Koreans all follow the same Chinese Zodiac regarding the 12 animals associated with each year in a loop. So this year will be the year of the wood dragon and last year was the rabbit. But the Vietnamese managed to make one alteration Instead of the rabbit, they actually replaced it with cats. So last year, even though it was a year of the rabbit for most of us, but in Vietnam it was the year of cats. So you see, there is some alteration there and it's really quite fun to see these differences.

Speaker 1:

But there is one thing that unites all these countries celebrating Lunar New Year, which is something that adults don't necessarily like, but kids definitely love it. That is the red pocket money. Yeah, I remember when I was a kid I was so looking forward to it, but a lot of adults are really, really dread this. So some Taiwanese people, instead of giving red pocket money to kids or a married individual, they would run away. They would escape by traveling overseas to avoid the obligation of giving the red pocket money, but nonetheless, the tradition is there. It's a way for adults to give their blessing to the younger. But red pocket money aside, what truly diverse and the most exciting part, at least for Milla is the food. How can we not talk about the food to celebrate the Lunar New Year?

Speaker 1:

If you visit any ethnic Chinese New Year's Eve table, I guarantee you you will see one dish without fail. That is the dish of fish. And the fish is not just only a fish. It got to have the head, it got to have the tail, so it's a whole fish. And this is because fish is pronounced yu in Chinese, which shares the same pronunciation as surplus. Therefore, fish is definitely a must to symbolize an abundant New Year. Plus, you should never, ever finish your fish. Okay, definitely not. You are supposed to have some leftover of the fish. This is because leftover is also pronounced yu in Chinese. So if you have some leftover, that means you are definitely have abundant supply in the future. You are going to be fortunate, you know, and you're going to have a lot. So definitely don't finish your fish.

Speaker 1:

And now let's look at Malaysia. So, even though Lunar New Year is mainly celebrated amongst Chinese community, they have developed something unique of its own. The dish is called isan, so isan is made of pickles and raw fish and seasoned generously with sauces and condiments, and all of it tossed together with chopsticks. And when you do that with your friends and family, they will shout out loud cheers of lohe. Indeed, in some places the dish itself has earned the name of lohe, because he means happiness in Cantonese, and it's believed that the higher you can toss it, the more you will prosper. And so friends and families gather around the dish and keep chanting good wishes for various aspects of life, including like abundant wealth, good health, safe travels, work promotion and so on, as they toss it up.

Speaker 1:

After Malaysian's exciting Iseong, now let's look at Vietnam. For Vietnamese to celebrate their Lunar New Year, the dish that they have to have is called banh chung. It's a square rice cake and is considered the soul of the Lunar New Year. It uses glutinous rice, green beans and pork. You know those ingredients that are very close to the heart of Vietnamese, and this is a dish that family members actually gather to make together on the occasion of the Lunar New Year.

Speaker 1:

And another must-have dish in the Vietnamese celebration is boiled chicken. Why humble boiled chicken? This is because you know, when the rooster crawls, the dark night is dispelled right and the new day is coming with the sun's appearance. So people I mean Vietnamese people consider New Year's Eve to be the darkest time. So families tell each other to worship the ancestors with a rooster in a hope of awakening the sun for a year full of light. This is the desire to shake off bad luck and welcome a new beginning. Plus, red and gold are usually lucky colors in the Lunar New Year. So you know, vietnamese believe that the glossy yellow color of the chicken skin brings good luck.

Speaker 1:

So, as you can see, to ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner is the big thing, I would say, probably even more important than the actual New Year itself. But this is not the case in Korea, and I didn't know about this until I started researching about this and started to ask my Korean friends. So, to my surprise, you know, koreans do it differently because New Year's Eve to them is just a time for them to prepare for the actual New Year. And for the actual New Year they got a busy day. They have to wake up early in the morning to prepare all the small dishes and food for their ancestors, so they will pay tribute to their ancestors. Afterwards, the younger members of the family will do a formal bow to the older generation, which is called a sibe I hope I pronounced it right and after that, children or unmarried individuals can receive their red pocket money. And after all these formal things are done, finally, the family can sit down, relax and enjoy food together.

Speaker 1:

Usually that's either the breakfast time or lunch time, and amongst all the really yummy dishes, the staple food for Korean's New Year is tteokguk. It's a soup with sliced rice cakes. According to tradition, the Korean New Year is similar to a birthday for Koreans, and having tteokguk is part of the birthday celebration. Once you finish eating your tteokguk, you are one year older, symbolically speaking, in Korean society. Wow, hearing all these dishes make me really hungry. I really want to have a chance to try them all. I actually didn't know there are so many different dishes People prepared for a Lunar New Year celebration.

Speaker 1:

I think my mind was too fixed on how Taiwanese people usually have for the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner. But amongst all, whether you are a Taiwanese, chinese, korean, filipino, vietnamese or even Mongolian, there is one ingredient that's being featured on all the tables of Lunar New Year's celebration. Can you guess it? It's the rice. In Philippines, they have this tikoy, and Chinese communities have Nhan Gao, vietnam has this ban chuong, mongolian has this cha gan sa and Korean have this tteokguk. It's all rice. Rice is featured on every single table and if you think about it, it's because this Lunar New Year thing revolves around the rice plantation cycle.

Speaker 1:

So this was the wisdom from our ancestors to know when is the best time to plan, when is the best time to harvest. It's the wisdom that's being preserved. Even though we don't use it anymore or not, I wouldn't say anymore, even though we don't use it much these days, it's still something that unites us together, and rice is this common thing that we, as Asians, have in common that we can cherish. We have traversed countries to share the Lunar New Year's blender with you, and now we turn the microphone over to you. Share with us your Lunar New Year's memories, the traditions that resonate with you or your family, and how you celebrate this time to renewal and hope.

Speaker 1:

Alright, as we wrap up our global tour of the Lunar New Year, it's clear that this festival is more than just a date. It's a celebration of cultural richness. Shared hopes and family unity span the world. Thank you for joining us today on the East Asian episode of A Book with Bubble Tea. Hope you have a wonderful Lunar New Year. Don't forget to also enjoy your bubble tea with the New Year meal. Until next time, bye.