Chinese New Year Tradition

Wow...on Monday 23rd Jan 2012...start the year of dragon...most chinese people celebrate this day, gather with their family. Now I will wrote a little bit about the chinese new year dishes. Mostly, the chinese prepare 12 kind of cuisine and 12 kind of dessert, which represent the chinese zodiac symbol. Ussually the choosen dishes have a meaningful corelation with wealth, longevity, happiness and safety.

They make Samseng contains 3 kind of meat : milk fish, hen, pork. Samseng is a sign of animal temper, this dish remains us not imitate animal temper, such as pig is a lazy animal, it can only eat and sleep. Hen always moving around when eating, it shows greedy, milkfish have scaly skin and being fed by the snake, it remain us not act like snake, rude to anyone. In Chinese, the fish signs fortune.

                       

They also serve noodle, this also a compulsary dish, Siu Mie/Shou Mian = Longevity Noodle. Nian Gao/Tii Kwee is compulsary cookies. Nian = Year and Gao = Cookies/sounds High, that's why Nian Gao prepared graded. Its prepared, the top level is small size, the bottom level is big size Nian Gao, this mean there be an enhancement of fortune and wealth, the highest its prepared means the family more rich. And the top of the Nian Gao, we could find Chinese Cup Cake / Zhǐ bēi dàngāo, this is sign beatufil life dan blossom just like the cupcake. 

Left: Nian Gao Tower, Center: Nian Gao, Right: Chinese Cupcake

Thousand Layers cake, this also an official cake, its signs a hope  for multiple layers of fortunes, the fortunes come non stop for the all years

Thousand Layer Cake

The fruits, they always serve banana, type plaintain ('pisang raja') or gold banana ('pisang mas), show prosperity/gold, ussualy serving in tropical country. Don't forget oranges and its leaves, the yellow skin and the leaves show continuously fortune. The sweetest plant, Cane, this show sweet longevity life. But avoid to serve spiny fruits such as snake fruit ('salak') and durian. but this exception not include pineapple, in chinese word 'Wang Li', Wang' means succesful/glorious and it shape like king crown. 

Also serve chinese candy such as kolang kaling/atep fruits, its sign clear and positive mind, jelly/gelatine candy with star shape, sign a hope for glorious future. But avoid to serve porridge, cause it show poverty life.

This a little information about Chinese New Year Tradition....Gong Xi Fat Cai..