‘Prosperity is a way of living and thinking, and not just money or things.’ Eric Butterworth
Penang seems to be celebrating some festival or other all through the year!! We had barely gotten over welcoming 2018 when the Indians celebrated the Pongal Festival followed by Thaipusm. And now, the Chinese are busy preparing to welcome the Year of the Dog!
Way before Christmas, Chinese New Year goodies were already on sale in the wet markets! From early January, there were Chinese New Year decorations everywhere! And now that we are less than a week from the great day, it’s practically impossible not to get carried away by the spirit!
Plants of all shapes and sizes are on sale everywhere. But in greatest demand are those potted plants guaranteed to bring prosperity! Every year, a new lucky plant comes into the market! Sometimes, money plants in fashion a year back are reclassified as poisonous plants the next lunar year!
Fortunately, there are certain plants like the kumquat or tangerine which seem to be eternal symbols of good fortune! They have been associated with gold and luck for ages and unless social media comes up with a new story, I guess they will remain that way for centuries to come!
It’s amazing that during this festive season, every item seems to carry some significance! Food items we take for granted are suddenly promoted to auspicious items during this period!
I marvel at the creativity of the Chinese when it comes to concocting sayings related to wealth. They excel in playing with homonyms and somehow, everything we eat or do during Chinese New Year is related to prosperity!
The pineapple , ‘ong lai’ becomes a symbol of money coming; mandarins or ‘kam’ become gold!
When I last visited the Pulau Tikus wet market, I saw prawns, fish and all manner of items with favourable meanings being snapped up! Somehow, the pricier the items, the more luck they are supposed to bring!
Want an abundance of wealth? Well, it appears that if we eat Yú, fish (鱼 )), we can be sure of a huge surplus in the bank! Hence the Chinese saying 年年有余 (Niánnián yǒu yú), meaning always having more than we need! Looks like we are a pretty greedy lot!
Have you attended a Chinese New Year dinner without prawns on the menu? No? That’s because if we want to ‘Siew har har’, be happy, we need to consume prawns! And the Chinese are only happy when they have tons of money! I guess if you are allergic to this crustacean, you just need to look at it to be happy!
Then we have the ‘nian gao’ which has led to the saying niánnián gāoshēng, (年年高升) meaning going higher with each coming year. Oh yes, it’s all about success and prosperity!
Chinese New Year is never complete without the traditional gift-giving. I’m not sure how this tradition started! Is it a sign of sheer generosity or is there another reason behind it?
I used to believe that gift-giving in Penang in the good old days was to allow housewives show off their culinary skills! Mum made kueh kapik and distributed to friends and neighbours who all sang praises of the delicacy. That made Mum very happy! In return, we would receive cakes and cookies, also home-made, so we would return the compliment, making the other parties equally happy!
Mum never spent a cent buying Chinese New Year gifts. Come to think of it, neither did I when I was much younger! I used to take pride in the cookies and cakes I made and the compliments that followed made my day!
Now, Chinese New Year gifts come in all shapes, sizes and prices! There are the traditional cookies costing RM20 – RM30 a bottle as well as elaborate hampers which come with exorbitant price tags. Mum would have had a cardiac arrest if she were to see the price of New Year gifts today!
Meanwhile, I have received countless WhatsApp messages with auspicious dates and times for certain Chinese rituals – like when to hang the red ‘chai’ over the front door, when to welcome the God of Prosperity and even when to eat my first Chinese New Year meal! Looks like our lives are dictated by tradition!
So, abiding by tradition, everything around is red! Red symbolises good luck and it’s supposed to ward off all evil! This is a colour which guarantees miracles! I am waiting for someone to give me a red packet; that would be a miracle!
There is a sea of red lanterns all over Penang. E & O donated RM200,000 towards the cause; private enterprises, temples, and even schools have put up red lanterns! I am sure the God of Prosperity will find the sight so irresistible he will make a longer stopover at this tourist state!
This morning, those who worship the Kitchen God will have sent him off to heaven with sweet stuff so he will have good things to report to the powers up there! Yes, it’s an attempt to bribe the higher powers! Looks like we humans believe that corruption is rampant everywhere!
This particular Chinese New Year, my husband’s family is making an attempt to come back from all over the world to celebrate in Penang. What can be better than a family celebrating the Lunar New Year together?
So I eagerly wait to welcome the dog, my Chinese zodiac animal! It’s not easy to qualify as a dog, though! Dogs are supposed to have a host of superhuman traits! We are supposed to be honest, friendly, faithful, loyal, responsible and……so the list goes on! No wonder I have to work like a dog!
Winston Churchill was a wood dog; Bill Clinton is a fire dog and so is Donald Trump! And believe it or not, I was born in the same year as the latter two! We’re Fire Dogs, whatever that means! I leave it to you to figure out what common doggy traits these two gentlemen possess. But I am sure I don’t share the same attributes; otherwise I would by now be a top politician or Head of State somewhere!
Because my year, the Year of the Dog, is but a week away, my husband and I have started giving out little doggie gifts to those we meet. A little early, but we’re already in the Chinese New Year mood!
Now that we’re all set, we hope you are too!
Happy Chinese New Year! May you be blessed with good health, good luck, happiness, and prosperity!
Gong Xi Fa Cai! Wang, Wang, Wang! (旺旺旺)
Have fun!
See you in the Year of the Dog!
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