恭喜发财
新年快乐
Kung Hei Fat Choi
Gōngxǐ fācái
Happy Chinese New Year
This year is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit (兔） or for the Vietnamese the Year of the Cat.
Unfortunately I'm not a Chinese astrologist so I can't tell you what the Year of the Rabbit means for your zodiac sign or how to improve it with feng shui.
Instead in this blog, I will be writing about my family's tradition in welcoming in the New Year. Although I am not strongly religious, we generally we start the day praying to my ancestors and the Chinese gods to welcome in the new year. The prayers includes offerings of food including fruit especially oranges or mandarin (represents gold or fortune), vegetarian dishes, rice, wine, tea and fried dough balls called Jin Deui (煎堆) which has a filling of sweet red beans but can also include a savoury filling with pork, Chinese sausage, water chestnuts, beans, dried shrimps and shiitake mushrooms (but we generally avoid it until least the afternoon when we tried to avoid meat as a custom).
After that we eat a vegetarian breakfast called zhai (斋)which contains thin seaweed, shiitake mushrooms, bean curd, lotus roots, woodear fungus, jujubes and various other vegetables accompanied with some rice. As a tradition we also eat an extra bowl of rice to represent continuous prosperity in the new year. We also drink a tea made with pe'er tea with dried and sweetened lotus seeds, lotus roots, winter melons and jujubes called New Years tea and again we pour some extra tea to represent prosperity.
Other foods we may have on the day include New Years cake aka nian gao (年糕)which is a sweet steamed cake made with glutinous rice flour and brown sugar, Gok Jai (角仔)which is a steamed glutinous rice pastry with a filling similar to the Jin Deui, Turnip cake aka Lou Baak Gou (萝卜糕)made with shredded daikon radish, mushrooms, dried shrimps, shiitake mushrooms and Chinese sausage as well as a candy box which may include dried and sweetened lotus seeds, lotus roots, winter melon, sweet potato, coconut, carrots, jujubes as well melon seeds and red pocket candy called lei shi tang (利是糖) which is known as that as they resemble the red pockets elders give to children and unmarried adults for luck in the new year．
Generally me and my family also visit the temple at Bonnyrigg opposite Mounties for prays to welcome in the Chinese New Year. They also serve a vegetarian lunch on the day and have some stalls selling lucky charms such as jade amulets, zodiac figurines, wind charms etc. Which I sometimes buy hoping it will bring me some good luck over the year.
We then finish the day having a feast with the family which may include foods such as shiitake mushrooms, fish, chicken, Chinese roast pork and vegetarian dishes.
If you are interested in knowing more about some customs including the decorations, lucky red pockets, meaning of visiting elder relatives, the Chinese calendar and zodiac and how others celebrate the Chinese New Year around the world then you could visit Wikipedia's Page on the Chinese New Year and About's Page on the Chinese New Year.
