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Happy New Year 2008!
Sheen Nee-en Kwye Luh!

According to the Chinese calendar, the New Year actually begins on February 07, with 2008 being the Year of the Rat (Woo Zih). According to Chinese astrologists, the rat is the first sign in the Zodiac, and a Rat Year is marked by hard work, lots of activity, and many renewals. Projects may not yield immediate returns in a Rat Year, but with patience, success is said to be guaranteed. Also by the Chinese calendar, the current year is 4705, although a few Chinese astrological/zodiac websites believe this year should be considered as Year 4706. Give or take a year - it's also the year of the Beijing Olympics, in which we'll be keeping you updated with stories and events as they materialize.

Spring Festival is now upon us - which is the most important celebration in China. It carries the same, if not more significance as Christmas does in western countries. Traditional Spring Festival is synonymous with happiness and good fortune, and for more than 15 days, special foods and activities contribute to cherished, lifetime memories. Temple fairs, dragon dances, fireworks, stilt walking, lantern carnivals and acrobatic shows are everywhere. Pictures of the god of doors and wealth, Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper, and bright red paper cuttings decorate households and add to the atmosphere of good cheer.

Symbolic Chinese Foods for the New Year

Food plays a major role in Chinese New Year celebrations. On the night before the New Year, families hand out oranges, prepare harmony trays filled with nuts and other snacks symbolizing good fortune, and later partake in a meal of fish or other "lucky" foods. These Lucky Foods are served throughout the two week celebration.

You may be asking, what gives a certain food symbolic significance? Sometimes it's based on appearance. For example, serving a whole chicken during the Chinese New Year season symbolizes family togetherness. Noodles represent a long life, and an old superstition says that it's bad luck to cut them. Both clams and spring rolls symbolize wealth; clams because of their resemblance to bouillon, and spring rolls because their shape is similar to gold bars.

On the other hand, a food may have special significance during Chinese New Year because of the way it sounds. For example, the Cantonese word for lettuce sounds like rising fortune, so it is very common to serve a lettuce wrap filled with other lucky food. Tangerines and oranges are passed out freely during Chinese New Year as the words for tangerine and orange (jiew zih) sound similar to luck and wealth, respectively. The same goes for pomelos. This large ancestor of the grapefruit signifies abundance, as the Chinese word for pomelo (yoh zih) sounds like "to have."

As mentioned, fish also play a large role in festive celebrations. And at the risk of homophonic hyperventilating, the word for fish (yiew) sounds like the words meaning wish and abundance. As a result, on New Year's Eve it is customary to serve a fish at the end of the evening meal, symbolizing a wish for abundance in the coming year. For added symbolism, the fish is served whole, with head and tail attached, symbolizing a good beginning and ending for the coming year.

And lets not forget about those sweet, steamed cakes that are so popular during the Chinese New Year season. Cakes such as Sticky Rice Cake have symbolic significance on many levels. Their sweetness symbolizes a rich, sweet life, while the layers symbolize rising abundance for the coming year. Finally, the round shape signifies family reunion.

The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns, which is a celebration with singing, dancing, lantern shows, and yes, more fireworks. Traditionally, Chinese parents prepared lanterns for their children to carry to school during the first days of the New Year. This symbolized their hope that the children would have bright futures. Another interesting tradition is the posting of riddles called 'Lantern Riddles.' They are written on pieces of paper and posted on lanterns or walls, and anyone solving the riddle is awarded a prize.

Expressing Yourself at the Dinner Table

There's a common expression in China that phonetically sounds like this: Meen ee shir way tee-en, which translates to: "Food is god." The Chinese love to eat; they love the social context of dining, and they pride themselves in the fact that they'll eat just about any creature set forth on the table.

For us less adventuresome diners, I've prepared a list of "normal" requests and expressions you may find handy at the Chinese dinner table. Most of these can be found in Chapter 8, "Food and Drinks" in SPEAK E-Z CHINESE In Phonetic English. You can download the audio files for free at our website (www.CathayCafe.com), thus giving you the opportunity to practice the words and phrases using the correct Mandarin tones.

Chinese New Year Day Taboos

As in any culture, there are age-old traditions and superstitions that few people still actually follow, but they're fun to know just the same. Listed below are some dos and don'ts related to Spring Festival:

Since everyone is in a festive mood during Spring Festival, people shouldn't argue and parents shouldn't scold or punish their children. Otherwise, you will have many more arguments during the New Year.

So there you have it. Remember, most Chinese people you'll meet will be familiar with these taboos, but few probably take them too seriously. Yet it's good to be aware of them just in case you're spending the holidays with some traditional friends!

We at the Cathay Cafe would like to wish you abundant blessings throughout 2008, the Year of the Rat! Good luck with learning Mandarin, and also with your time in China!