*of cos i like you too, special one ;)i like chinese new year. i do.
sure it can be the globs of pineapple tarts, rolls of fragile loveletters, bottles of brittle almond cookies, formidable stacks of
tiam kuehs that can last like 5 months from now, the nice nice nice happy new outfits, lovely lovely new heels and ofcos, the smooth angpows (mainly splendid news for the unmarried, like me!) with crisp new notes. oh oh oh the richly bbqed and glazed saliva-triggering sweet
bah kwas. oh my, it is like heaven can. ok maybe a bit more oriental than most expect heaven to be like la.
there's the yearly family steamboat that has the dining table squeezed to the table edges with raw materials and later with the pot loaded with a sea of balls (fish, sotong, mushroom/chicken, meat, etc), slices (fish, beef, pork, chicken, etc) and chunks (oysters, abalone, vege, seaweed, etc), the crazy late afternoon-night-morning (in
THAT order) majong by the adults, the even crazier meals for gatherings that have enough leftover to last 1 week and more. and not to mention the towering pyramids of
lor kam that'll make all chinese citizens looking even more jaundice-like for another 2-3 months.
afterwhich, usually most people will be wiped and victimised by the sandpaper sore throat, the dripping bodyfluid cold, maybe the annoying fever and the disappearance of any vocal volume or strength.
during the gatherings with the relatives, it would be the usual: "how come youre not married ah?", "wha, so duah hang already ha someone!", "well, what are you doing now?" (which they ask every time due to the memory lapse) or "how come never show boyfriend ah? got or not?" (which i usually give a biiiiiiig smile and get back to looking busy ;) ) or even worse, with the widing generation gap and the demise of dialect language transferral that got terminated somewhere along the line, one (or i at least) has to smile, nod or laugh timely to comments that are understood but to which one cant reply to.
but you see, i
still like chinese new year.
of cos there are many who say that cny shouldnt be an excuse to keep close to relatives that one does not bother to usually keep in contact with.
some complain about the horrible chores or the ridiculous cleanups that are made fussy over when things would just go back to its usual messy state again in less than 3 days.
others point out that you barely know who youre meeting, be it some 'close' cousin or uncle, in that span of 2 hours; there's really nothing to talk about between you two anyway or the same usual topics are being recycled: work, school, spouse, current fling, plans, yahdah yahdah.
but i dont really care, cos i
STILL like my chinese new years.
it's not hard to imagine what might happen next time when our parents leave the earth and we have to fend for ourseleves on such occasions, oh my - the distribution of orange crates, the ordering of cookies or even the packing of ang pows on cny eve. or would most of us just ignore traditions like these, with a wave of a dismissive hand? chances are, our kids may not even call their elders like we have to "ah yi", "ah gu", "duah gu", "yi po" etc will lose out to the generic "aunties" and "uncles".
sure people talk about globalisation, westernisation and what not. and how we should keep ourselves in the rat race and blah blah blah. or even if we cant, we'll still be in it anyway.
i might be worried if my kids end up asking me what the hell is a
tiam kueh or if they
only view chinese new year as a excuse of changing the wardrobe (which im sure many of us still use as a reason!) and to get extra allowance. and that they rather play computer games and watch reruns on channel 5. oh my that'll be scary.
but call me old or foggy but there are some traditions like these i'd like to keep. whether it's the crazy mad housecleaning, the cooked rice once stepping into the new year, the staying up late for the parents' longevity. i know they can be really silly and ridiculous. but i think its these that keep us in touch with our roots as a Chinese. acting like an individual reminder, at least. and of cos, next time, it'll bring memories of how it was like when we were kids. i dont know abt you, but i'd like that. even the tagging along with my mom to buy the gigantism of grocery shopping goods for chinese new year steam boat. i kinda like that too :)
even if it means putting up with the madness of the repetitive conversations and the post-chinese new year illnesses.
i like chinese new years enough to do those, again :)
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