Growing up Chinese American, the lunar New Year was a holiday I grew up with at home. But it did not feel special at all. Usually I would still go to school, and my parents would still go to work. It was a day just like any other. For sure, my parents would figure out a weekend that worked with my aunts and uncles to gather for a new years meal, and we ate food that Hong Kong people would traditionally eat for the new year, like pun choi (click here for a Wall Street Journal article about this dish), and fish (the word for fish in Chinese, yu, sounds a lot like the word for surplus or extra, so the saying nian nian you yu - year after year there is fish - is a play on words that symbolizes extra wealth and happiness). I enjoyed these gatherings, as I enjoyed all of our family gatherings.
But like I said, it did not feel special. Thanksgiving felt special, because we talked about it in school, we enacted skits with pilgrims and Indians in it, and we watched the Charlie Brown special on TV every Thanksgiving. Christmas felt special, because for an entire month leading up to it you would hear Christmas music on the radio and in the malls when you went shopping for presents; and my parents played out the whole Santa Claus and stockings on the chimney thing, so my brother and I believed in Santa Claus, and we partook in the magic feeling of meeting him at our local mall. Best of all, we had nearly two weeks off from school!
It wasn't until my junior year of college when I went to Hong Kong to study abroad that I felt the magic of the lunar new year. For Chinese people, the lunar new year is what Christmas is for us. For the entire month leading up to it, there is lunar new year music in the malls, and in the streets. But even better! They have these flower markets that pop up throughout the city. They are a great joy to walk around with friends or family, because they have games like we do at the fair, and you can warm up from the cold with hot snacks like noodles, or meat on a stick.
And of course, the time off! No school! No work! On the day after New Year's, Hong Kong shuts down some of their busiest streets to allow pedestrians free reign, and to make their way to Victoria Harbor to watch the fireworks! Traditionally, in small towns and villages of China, families set off firecrackers and small fireworks in their local streets to scare away ghosts. Hong Kong continues this tradition, albeit in a less intimate and more controlled fashion, but it's just as fun when you see how great the fireworks are, they are some of the best I've ever seen.
For the next several days, kids and adults still don't have school or work, so you take this time to visit your extended family. We call this in Cantonese baaih nihn. Young people have to make their rounds to their aunts' and uncles', grandmas' and grandpas', to wish them a happy and healthy new year. In turn, your elders will give you lucky money in red envelopes. The rule on who gives lucky money and who receives is simple: if you're single, you receive. If you're married, you give. Age doesn't matter. Another interesting phenomenon is that people only want to give cash that is fresh off the money printing press, so you'll see lines out the door of all the banks, as people trade their old dirty wrinkled bills for fresh and clean new bills in preparation for the new year.
These are just some examples of what happens in Hong Kong for the lunar new year. It wasn't until I was immersed in this cultural practice that I understood the magic of this holiday. Now, even when I am in the US, and there aren't the flower markets, or the lunar new year music, or the fireworks, it feels special to me, because I experienced it in Hong Kong, like my parents did.
Chinese New Year/ Lunar New Year is a huge holiday in some parts of the world, including New York. Growing up in New York provided a great variety of culture from various parts of China. I was raised on very spicy Sichuan and Hunan food, and for many people in my community, it was tradition to go out for Chinese food for some holidays. Christmas day is a popular day for people to reunite with family at one of the many great restaurants. Every winter we also waited excitedly for Lunar New Year specials. One of my favorite things to do was to visit Chinatown and be dazzled by the resplendent colors of the decorations and fans. On one visit when I was seven, we went into an old run down shop and I bought a tiny bean shell with a piece of ivory or something like it, thinner than my nail, carved into the shape of an elephant. I saved it for years because the store clerk told me it was magic. For me all of Chinatown was magic with the dragons, the fireworks, and the vibrant energy on every street corner.
There are myriad reasons why I love Chinese New Year /Lunar New Year and celebrate it every year. I also think that for many New Yorkers, Chinese New Year was a holiday unfettered by a feeling of religious allegiance. It is one of those holidays that after years of assimilation became part of New York culture, allowing for all to partake in it. With so many constraints of political correctness, it is nice to have a celebration that provides a sense of joy and unity.
My heart fills with joy every year at the festivities and learning what each year under that animal sign has in store for everyone. In truth I am not really sure how people who have the Lunar New Year celebration as an integral part of their culture feel to have outsiders celebrate it. However, I have always been made to feel welcome during the celebration. In New York, there are certain holidays in which people come together and celebrate together as New Yorkers. This is one of the best things about living in a large multicultural city. I believe that Boston, if not already, is heading in the same direction. I have spent the last few Lunar New Years in Chinatown in Boston. There is a parade, fireworks, restaurant specials, and many events to see. I hope that this is one holiday I will never miss!
The next parade in Boston's Chinatown will be on Sunday, March 1st. Click here for more details.
Photo credits
Written by Sihun Kim
Photos by Rina Hirate
February 19th is New Year's day in the lunar calendar. On this day, many Korean people eat a special dish, Tteokguk (Rice cake soup). Korean people eat it to celebrate the New Year because they believe that eating rice cake soup will bring them good luck and symbolically adds one year to their age. This dish is usually made with beef soup and slices of white rice cake. Why don’t we draw beautiful pictures in our heart for the New Year with this New Year's day dish and say SaeHae Bok MaNi BaDeuSeYo (Happy New Year / Please receive a lot of luck in the New Year) to your family and friends!
24 oz (1.5lb) Sliced Rice Cakes (for Tteokguk)
0.4lb Beef (* chicken)
2 Slices Dashima, Korean Kelp (* Kombu, Japanese Kelp)
3 Spoons Ganjang, Korean Soysauce (* Sho-yu, Japanese Soysauce)
1/3 Spoon Salt
1/3 Spoon Minced Garlic
1 Whipped Egg (or Fried egg)
Some Dumplings
(* can substitute)
1. Cut beef and put them into water and wait for 30minutes to reduce blood.
2. Soak Rice cake in water for 30 minutes.
3. Put 1000cc water with beef, two slices of kelp in a heavy pot and boil.
4. Put rice cakes in the boiling water.
5. Put 3 spoons soy sauce, 1/3 spoons salt, and 1/2 spoon minced garlic into the soup.
6. Put some dumplings and cook slowly until the soup is thickened.
7. Put whipped egg into the soup.
8. Turn off the heat and put seaweed on the top
9. Let’s enjoy delicious Tteokguk and add one year to your age!
* Mirim Oriental Groceries (Korean) : Harvard Avenue, Green B line, Allston - All Ingredients
* H-Mart (Cambridge branch / Korean) : Central Square, Red line - All Ingredients
* Reliable Market (Korean) : Somerville - All Ingredients
* Cherry Mart (Korean): Hynes Convention Center Station, Newbury Street, Boston
* H-Mart (Korean) : Burlington - All Ingredients
* Super 88 (Chinese) : Packards Corner, Green B line - Rice Cakes, Soy sauce, Beef, Dumplings, Egg
* Trader Joe's - Soy Sauce, Beef, Dumplings, Egg
* Star Market/ Shaws - Soy Sauce, Beef, Egg
New Years Traditional Food in Japan (Rina) |
Chinese New Year from the Outside In |
Chinese New Year (Felix)  |
www.reviewjournal.com/columns-blogs/matt-youmans/patriots-win-definition-pick-em-game
How many people watched the XLIX NFL championship!? I did!!
It was my first experience to watch the Super Bowl. I was surprised, because many people were watching the game on TV or visiting sports bar to see the big game.
Each year, the Super Bowl is the most-watched broadcast in U.S. television. The day of the game is not an official holiday, though many people stay at home and watch the game. Many people watch the game at home because it is quite difficult to get game tickets! Thus, on the day of the game, people go to the supermarket and liquor shop to prepare for the BIG game.
BU held a Super Bowl event for students, so I joined that event with my friends. There was a big screen and chicken wings! Chicken wings is one of the popular foods for watching the Super Bowl. Many CELOP students were also enjoying this event. Did you know that the Super Bowl day is the second largest day for U.S. food consumption after Thanksgiving day?
Next year's Super Bowl is scheduled to be played on February 7th, 2016, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California!!
Photo credit: Sihun Kim
These photos were submitted to us by a CELOP student, Abdulaziz. Thanks Abdulaziz!
Abdulaziz was captured in this photo, which was posted on the Boston University Facebook Page. He's the one in red and white stripes.
Left: Abdulaziz poses with the infamous MVP of Superbowl XLIX: Tom Brady (shh! we suspect this is just a cut out, but don't tell Abdulaziz!)
Right: Abdulaziz at a Celtics game
As Americans, we celebrate diversity and multiculturalism. However we have such an abundance of holidays that we have sometimes become accustomed to celebrating them without fully understanding their origins or purpose. Our basic knowledge of holidays outside of our home culture often started in elementary school. Each holiday came with a theme and all the ensuing projects, complete with construction paper and glue. Often our feeble understanding of many holidays was based upon TV versions of history, advertising, and stores, displaying clever marketing to increase sales. Sometimes we were blissfully unaware that the true origins and purpose of certain holidays may have been to represent a harsh reality or occurrence in history. In any case, our modern version of holidays gives us an excuse to celebrate and do something special with loved ones and companions.
Valentine's day is a day for celebrating love and eating sweets. This is the simplified version of the holiday that many of us were taught In elementary school. We also had a vague idea of an angel named cupid, who shot people with an invisible arrow, thereby causing those who were struck by his arrow to fall in love. During most of our formative years we made colorful cards and paper hearts to give to classmates on this holiday. Sometimes those cards were also accompanied with some candy or chocolate. During adolescence, if we were brave enough, we would give a card or a small gift to someone we liked romantically. Adults usually went out for a romantic evening complete with flowers and a gift or chocolates.
Although we have consistently celebrated Valentine's day every year with good cheer and enthusiasm, there are few people who could tell you where the holiday originated. Apparently the holiday is quite a conglomeration of different periods in history and varying purposes. According to the video below, the history of the holiday started with a Roman fertility festival called Lupercalia and was later renamed and given an official date by the Church in honor of a crucified Saint. Towards the end of the middle ages the holiday represented people in love, and birds in mating season. In the 1700's the focus of the holiday was on giving greeting cards. Around 100 years later, the focus changed to exchanging cards with a romantic focus. After that the manufacture and consumer demand of cards and chocolate blossomed. People today generally view this as a romantic day and an opportunity to show a loved one that he/she is special. I don't know where the chocolate came into it, but that is my favorite part.
History video: Bet You Didn't Know: Valentine's Day. 14 February 2015.
In America, men give flowers or a present to women on Valentines Day. In Japan, women give chocolate or a present to men, family, or friends. Then on March 14th, men give a present as a return gift to women: we call this White day! This is quite an interesting cultural difference, right?
I would like to introduce you to Japanese Valentines day.
As you know, February 14th is Valentines Day. In Japan, February is the most important month for snack companies, especially in the chocolate section. They sell one third of their chocolate during the Valentines Day season!
http://navistation01.com/4207.html
Why does everyone give chocolate on Valentines Day?
There are several theories on why you give chocolate on Valentines Day. Most people think that it was because many companies started advertising women giving chocolates to men for Valentines Day. According to the website ..., this happened in 1975, and the practice of women giving chocolate to men was established.
February is an important month for girls to brag about their cooking skills. When I was in high school, I received more than 100 Tomo-choco (see below) in three years from my friends. They all are really skillful in cooking. Every year, I learned recipes from my mother and made them until midnight. They were unforgettable memories for me!
Honmei-choco
本命チョコ
Girls give this Honmei-choco to their boyfriend, or to a boy they want to tell that she likes him.
Giri-choco
義理チョコ
Girls give a Giri-choco to a boy they are friends with.
Tomo-choco
友チョコ
Girls give chocolates or cookies to friends.
It does not matter if the friend is a boy or a girl. You can give this to whomever you want.
"Choco" Photos from the following sites, in order of appearance
Written by Yara Tashkandi
It was late at night. No one was awake to share with this huge decision I just made. I walked nervously around my room, giving my decision the time to sink in.
I looked closely at my self-reflection in the mirror. I noticed my white skin, my slanted Asian eyes, my hand holding a green passport that says (a citizen of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), and my heart, filled with love and sense of belonging to all Arab countries.
I had a puzzled look on my face, and my head was spinning with thoughts. I was wondering how could all these different identifications form a person? What am I? Am I a Saudi? An Arab? An Uzbek? I stopped questioning myself and remembered my decision. I had one last happy and relieved look, because I ended up choosing humanity. I could wholeheartedly say that I belong to one race, the human race.
During my childhood, I was always looked at as the Uzbek girl in school. My friends and classmates found it interesting that I didn’t have their beautiful wide brown eyes, but instead, I had really small black eyes. Also, they picked on me because of my last name, Tashkandi, which is taken from Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan. They were sure that a girl with my eyes and my last name could never be Saudi, and will definitely have to go back to her original country. They kept asking questions about Uzbekistan and promising to visit me when I go back. No matter how hard I tried to tell them that I am Saudi, that I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, and that I will not go back to Uzbekistan, they just decided not to believe me.
As I grew older, the tone got harsher. Instead of promising to visit me in Uzbekistan, people started asking me to go back to Uzbekistan. Whenever I tried to contribute in anything as a Saudi citizen, opponents of my opinion would just pull the Uzbek card on me. “You’re not originally Saudi. Go back home!” They spread their poisonous words all over me. Right then, I knew that I would never be looked at as a Saudi, so I might as well stop trying to be one.
After that, I decided that If I couldn’t be a Saudi, then at least, I’m going to be an Arab. When the Arab Spring began back in 2011, I felt that I finally belonged to something. I could feel my soul flying over Tahrir square in Egypt, participating in a march in Tunisia, and protesting in the streets of Libya. But after a few months, when the protests got harder, and the killing and arresting were on a daily basis, I knew that I could never possibly identify myself as an Arab, since I have never actually tasted the bitterness that they have tasted. I didn’t know what a martyr’s mother’s sad tears, or even a victorious revolutionist’s happy tears felt like. Maybe I can’t be an Arab after all. But then what can I be?
For a long time after that, I was worried about figuring out what I can be, and finding the race or the ethnic group that I belong to, and I forgot to just be myself. I forgot to just simply be a person who has ideas and beliefs, without all of the other complications. All of these previous incidents made me realize that I do not need to fit a certain criteria. I could just be myself, and be identified as a human being whose identity was shaped by going through a lot and experiencing many things. This decision has helped me a lot, especially after coming here to the U.S. and meeting people from many different races, and cultural backgrounds. Now, I feel confident enough not to let anyone label or classify me into a specific group. I am who I am, and I belong to only one race, the human race.
Written by an anonymous CELOP student
When I entered the counter to check in at Logan international airport, the security asked my brother and I nicely to follow him to another place, and asked us if we have any luggage and we told him that we had, he accompanied us to the place where we picked them up and followed him again. At that moment, I was really scared but my brother was so calm, I think because he used to come to the US every year for business so he has been in such a situation most frequently.
Then we arrived to an isolated place; nobody was there except for one or maybe two passengers who were leaving at that time. When we got there, the police asked us to open the luggage and started to search for something that might incriminate us. I was very frightened, not because of that, but I was scared that he might ask me to turn on my laptop which has a non-genuine copy of windows operating system which would cause me a lot of troubles, fortunately he did not. The funniest thing was when he found my notebook, he was turning the pages desperately to find a page in English to read, but all my handwriting was in Arabic. Ultimately he released us. I really breathed deeply as we exited the airport and thank God for his help.
Before coming to the USA, I had this imaginary picture about the US reflecting an equality and undiscriminated attitude from both the government and the people themselves. However, this image has changed after I just arrived in the USA last year.
Now, I have spent almost a year in the US, a year enough to erase that image and replace it maybe with a more factual and darker image as I see how African Americans are not treated equally as their white peers. The Media always draws a misleading picture about the US, especially when it comes to the unspeakable issue, racism, especially towards African Americans as they are as American as white people. They do not have the same opportunities as white people have. Worse education, lower income, higher unemployment and a higher homelessness rate. I could not see the equality that I always have heard about. On the other hand, I can’t judge other races but I can see Hispanics are not better than African Americans. Moreover, in the last couple months, there were many administrations across the US as in two different cities, two African Americans were killed by a white policeman and they were found not guilty by the court. Both cases
support the assumption that in America racism still is a huge issue that the government should take more seriously.
However, after 9/11, I think Americans do not look at Muslims as they used to before that. Last Tuesday, the tenth of February, three Muslims were shot by an American and the media, I mean all the media, just ignored it like nothing happened, but social media really exposed the incident and criticized the media because they did not even mention it until after a couple hours because they were Muslims who were shot by a white man, what if it was vice versa. I think it would become the headlines in all the news channels. I think most Americans are not racist, but the hate speech, which is protected by law, can trigger such racial crimes and increase the gap between different races.
As a person, I respect free speech and I believe that everyone should be able to express his opinion without fearing the consequences. However, this speech should not escalate the racism and drag down the country into a worse situation.
