Happy Year of the Snake

When I was growing up, Chinese New Year was always the biggest holiday. In the days up to the new year, my mom would take me shopping to get new clothes. (She said that when she was growing up, that was the one time in the year that she got new clothes.) She would clean the house spotless in order to make room for the good luck of the new year. My dad would warn us of things we shouldn't do once the new year arrives, like cut or wash our hair, because hair symbolizes fortune. We would drive all over the Bay Area to visit the houses of the elders in the family. At every stop, there would be tons of relatives to see and red envelopes to collect. And of course, there was the food, symbolic of (or homonyms of-- Chinese people love puns) wishes for the new year-- noodles (long life), fish (abundance), sticky rice cakes (increasing prosperity year after year), seaweed (fortune), tea eggs (fertility), onions (intelligence), celery (spirit for hard work), fruit (luck), whole duck (healthy family). The new year celebration was an all-weekend affair, and I loved it.

As I got older, the celebrations shrunk in scale as the elders passed on, aunts and uncles moved to the suburbs, kids went away for college, and each branch of the family tree curled into its own nuclear unit. That, I think, is such an unfortunate part of Americanization. I could always count on my immediate family getting together for a big dinner, usually prepared by my mom. But for years now, there are always members unable to attend, because Chinese New Year always happens during the academic schedule and doesn't come with its holiday weekend. For as long as I'll be living across the country, I will always be missing Chinese New Year with my family. And I will always be missing my family the most that day.

I've managed to find friends to celebrate with. And I suppose once I start my own family, I'll construct traditions of my own. I am aware now, more than I've ever been, of the kind of effort it takes to keep a family together. I can only hope that as my cousins, brother and I grow older, and as take the reigns in planning these holidays, we'll figure out a way to maintain the happy spirit that makes these holidays meaningful.