Growing up in Taiwan, I celebrate the New Year twice a year: the universal New Year of January 1, and the New Year according to the Lunar Calendar. For January 1, there is only one day off as a national holiday. However, for the Lunar New Year, the festivity goes on for at least two weeks. It starts with food preparation a week before. On the New Year’s Eve, everyone in the family sits in a circle around a fire dish which we call Fire Pan (火煱) . It actually is almost the same as Fondue in which vegetables, meat, and dumplings are added to the water. When I was a kid, the Fondue was heated by a coal block. Now, they are almost heated by electricity or by gas. The most important food item in the fire is the so-called 湯圓, a spherical shape of boba basically made of sugar, and tapioca flour. 湯圓 signifies good lucks for the next year.
Asides from the Fondue, there was another important dish of fish. The Mandarin word of fish is 魚 which has the same pronunciation of 餘 that means ‘left over’ . Literally it means that food and wealth will be sufficient for the following year.
On the next day, everyone in the family would dress in new clothes and the most senior person in the family would hand out red envelope to the children. Insides the red envelope would be the money.
The streets on the Lunar New Year would be very busy with either the lion dance or the dragon dance. In the plaza, sometimes there would be Taiwanese drama musicals which entertained the neighborhood. My mom was very fond of the free Taiwan drama musical for entertainment.
I moved to the U.S. in 1971 and got married in 1974. Victor was born in 1977 and Leo in 1979. Basically, I started a new family in the U.S. in 1977. The celebration of the Lunar New Year depends on the place I live. If I live in places such as in New Jersey or at Ann Arbor where there are Taiwanese community, then there is Lunar New Year Celebration. But during almost 40 years of residence in Wisconsin where there was no Taiwanese community, there were no Lunar New Year celebrations.
In 2023 at Ann Arbor, the Taiwanese Community has a group celebration at the social hall of the First Presbyterian Church. We had a feast followed by music performances but not with the lion dance or the dragon dance. We even have a red envelop of $1 N. T. from our President. By the way, you probably cannot do anything with $1 N. T.
Family Fondue feast still continues but with Christmas Eve, not with the Lunar New Year. Healthy vegetables remain with the Fondue but not with the boba as boba contains too much sugar. Yes, there is still fish which is not only healthy but signifies good wealth and good fortune in the following year.
By the way, what is the Lunar Calendar and how is Lunar New Year determined ? The Lunar Calendar is a lunisolar calendar based on the cycles of the moon and the Earth orbiting the Sun. The calendar has 12 months with each month being either 29 or 30 days long. A year is made up of about 12 lunar cycles or 354 days. The date of the New Year is determined by complicated calculations, but usually falls on the second new moon following the winter solstice.
You may also have heard about the Lunar zodiac, and what is it ? The Lunar zodiac is made up of 12 animal names that are associated with the years. The animals are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. I was born in 1946, and my zodiac is dog. Those people who are born 12 years after such as 1958 has dog as his or her zodiac.
Although backgrounds of the Lunar New Year or Chinese zodiac are not part of the story. But it doesn’t hurt to know about it so that you have a better appreciation of my story.
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