Jan. 26, 2009
Happy Niu Year!
No, that's not a typo in the title - it's a play on words. Today is the first day of Chinese Spring Festival (also known as Chinese New Year). This year is the year of the Ox. This is "your" year if you were born in the following years: 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, and of course, 2009. The Chinese word for ox is "niu" and sounds a lot like our English word "new". I've been told that "Happy Niu Year" is currently the most texted message in China right now.
Yesterday, on Chinese New Year's eve, we had a feast with our friends to celebrate. We tried to incorporate many Chinese traditions while still keeping it simple. The Chinese love the colors of red and gold, and for Spring Festival they like to buy flowers (a sign of spring) and serve oranges, so we used those colors and themes in our party decorations.
We made a paper chain with red, yellow, and orange paper, and some big pink "plum blossoms". Add to that a couple of paper lanterns, a red tablecloth, and red & gold plates, cups and napkins, and chopsticks, and you've got the makings of a festive supper party.
The children were going to color pictures of an ox and work on activity booklets I printed from Enchanted Learning, but ds wanted to play and dd and her friend Miss K were more interested in the activity books. So Mrs. K and I colored the girls' ox pictures! My dd had already started coloring her ox purple (her favorite color) so I thought I'd follow her lead and finish it that color. I added pink "plum blossoms" (dd's other favorite color) and oranges to finish the picture. DD loved it! Mrs. K decided on a rainbow theme - I think they turned out pretty nice, and it was a lot of fun to wield the crayons. Who says only children can have fun coloring?
DH and Mr. K finally arrived with our Chinese food (you didn't think we were going to eat pizza or something did you?). With a little Chinese music in the background we sat down to enjoy our feast. Everyone except our ds tried to use chopsticks - ds was more than content with a spoon. All I can say about our feast is "yummy!" We chose a nice variety of dishes and were very pleased with our festive meal.
Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year) & Gong Xi Fa Cai (Congratulations & be Prosperous - Mandarin)
And a special blessing to our friends in Asia:
"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."
- Numbers 6: 24-26
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