The coming Lunar New Year is the Year of the Dragon.
The Chinese "long" has "the head of a camel or horse, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a cow, the neck and body of a snake, the belly of a kind of huge clam, the scales of a carp, the claws of a hawk, the palm of a tiger, and without wings". If such an image is too complex, the main thing to remember is that the Chinese dragon is a sea creature .
The Chinese dragon, on the other hand, was seen as a benevolent character because it, for instance, was a harbinger of rain, bringing water to end drought. There were dragon king temples in many places in China where people would plead for relief from either droughts or floods.
Fireworks aside, the next best thing (or maybe the best thing actually) about Spring Festival is all the scrumptious traditional foods that go along with it. But what should you eat/gift and why during this more festive of Chinese festivals?
Traditionally made and eaten at home on the first day of Spring Festival, dumplings represent change and fecundity in the new year. The shape of dumplings resembles ancient Chinese gold ingots (金锭, jīn dìng) so they are a particularly wealthy omen. Some people even hide one jiao and five jiao coins (一角和五角硬币, yī jiǎo hé wǔ jiǎo yìng bì) inside the dumplings (much like the British tradition of hiding a silver sixpence in the Christmas pudding), which are thought to bring good fortune to whoever finds them.
The popularity of fish on the Spring Festival table stems from the fact that the Chinese word for fish (鱼, yú) is a homonym (谐音, xié yīn) for surplus (余, yú).
Another homonym (谐音, xié yīn) food, niangao (年糕, also known as Chinese New Year Cake) sounds like 年高, which means 'higher year,' or more grammatically accurately, an increasingly prosperous year.
With their shape like gold bars (金条, jīn tiáo) (kind of, if you squint...), spring rolls represent wealth in the coming year.
WRD wish all a joyous new year and express our hope for your happiness and good future.
May the New Year bring many good things and rich blessings to you and all those you love!
