Happy Niu Year!
Introduction
In all honesty, as a non-Chinese person, Chinese New Year (CNY) is just a long weekend where I kick back and relax while I like everyone’s posts as they are clad in red and armed with twin mandarin oranges. Sometimes, I get snacks and a tub of classic pineapple tarts from neighbours and friends, appreciate all the classic puns people post as their captions, but that’s really about it for celebrating the new year.
The myriad of customs and traditions also go way over my head, not to mention the intricate reasons behind the actions. Don’t sleep on the eve of CNY to ensure the longevity of your parents’ lives, don’t sweep the floor on the day itself lest you sweep all the luck away, one mandarin orange for love and another for wealth – I get that, but do I really?
CNY in 2020 was still shrouded in normalcy, undeniably tense with the evolving situation unfolding in China and the first confirmed case imported from Wuhan in late January. Over a year later, CNY in 2021 is completely transformed, now adorned with a range of other regulations to keep us all safe but still able to celebrate with our loved ones during these trying times. Join me on my journey of enlightenment regarding Singapore’s most celebrated event and how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted yet another aspect of our lives.
The C stands for Chinese
To clarify, I am a Malay and a Muslim. Despite the countless Racial Harmony Day celebrations I attended in school, CNY isn’t something I am generally knowledgeable about. To embark on this journey of enlightenment, I have decided to ask a few of my friends about what CNY means to them and how they celebrate it.
All in all, CNY is a celebration of togetherness and family. Meeting cousins and interacting with your aunts and uncles you wouldn’t otherwise. Or as one person I asked put it, CNY was “state-sanctioned slacking”. Activities such as bài nián (拜年), paying CNY visits to relatives and gambling (with peanuts, of course!) further emphasise the spirit of camaraderie. Across the board, there was a resounding call for the importance of food during CNY celebrations. From snacks to yú shēng (魚生), I was bombarded with a long list of relatively foreign but also delicious-sounding food. Hotpot was truly a favourite, appearing in virtually everyone’s answers regarding their favourite thing about CNY. When prompted further about why gatherings such as reunion dinner were so essential to celebrations, everyone explained it was due to the importance of not just food, but eating with one another. Unfortunately, everything was to change once our next C rocked the world.
The C stands for Covid-19
Ah yes. The big C. As the global pandemic continues to ravage our lives here in Singapore and abroad, we have all come to normalise the “new normal”. Wearing masks, temperature checks, SafeEntry and the collection of our personal data for the sake of society’s collective safety. As the vaccination rollout proceeds in Singapore, safety has been and continues to be of utmost priority. During this Covid-19 CNY, I asked how my friends and the people they know are coping and how they feel regarding the situation.
I could hear the sighs from everyone’s typed answers, truly a tragic sight. We have all lost so much to this pandemic and virus, here’s another one ruined, right? Well, maybe not so much.
While it was really tough for people who couldn’t go to Malaysia to visit their family members, others were just thankful for the Covid-19 situation in Singapore improving to a point where some form of visiting was allowed. Frustrations are bound to exist, but there is consensus and understanding behind why there is a need for these rules.
It was heartening to see everyone concerned for each other’s safety — especially the safety of their grandparents, the most vulnerable community at risk of contracting Covid-19. As part of safety regulations during CNY, the number of people allowed to gather is limited to eight people. Most people resorted to tactical strategy – staggering visits to span over two days, meticulously curating lists of people. One friend detailed how her family implemented a “booking” system on Whatsapp; RSVP-ing has never been as crucial as it was now.
The C stands for Cultural Overlaps
As I sift through all my newly gained knowledge about CNY and the traditions and customs behind the grand celebration, I begin to ponder. Hey, you know what, there are quite a few similarities between this celebration and another that’s much more familiar to me – Hari Raya! From being bombarded with overly intrusive and personal questions from family members to snacks and cuisine, this was an exciting find.
Arguably, the most essential thing about CNY is bài nián (拜年) and everything that comes along with it. Family members, you gotta love to hate them – joking! But really, nothing screams the festive season more than your nosy aunt pestering every child for their scores and their plans for the next 10 years. No adult can escape the “when are you getting married” question, and no married couple can escape the ”when are you getting children” question. Quite literally everything stated above can be reflected during Hari Raya Puasa!
The intense food preparation for meals and addictive snacks, putting up decorations around the house, shopping for new clothes for visiting and last but not least, receiving coloured envelopes filled with instant joy – money! The parallels are endless!
With the onslaught of Covid-19, the celebrations were lacklustre, to say the least. Another friend mentioned how still the atmosphere felt as compared to previous years. I nearly jested that all the hand sanitisers sterilised the mood but decided against it.
The C stands for (my) Conclusion
Let’s circle back to the start. Once again, in all honesty, when I got tasked to write an article related to CNY, my mind went absolutely blank. No thoughts, my head was empty. At the end of this journey, I will reflect on how it has been, my personal takeaways and something you, fellow reader, can hopefully take away as well.
This ignorance I held regarding CNY was something I never thought about at all. It was the biggest event of the year that I didn’t celebrate. What use is there of taking the time to understand it? I now know the answer to this question.
If I can understand you, you can understand me.
I realise my own double standards now, wanting to be understood as a minority yet not exactly wanting to understand the majority. I thought that the majority understood one another already, you don’t need one more. But we do. You can show basic respect and understanding in your own way.
As a minority, certain microaggressions and misunderstandings that build up over time can lead to resentment. Taking that time to show that you want to learn? A little goes a long way! Anyone can do it, and doing it yourself proves it. It isn’t necessary for everyone to conduct in-depth research and question every friend you have about certain traditions and events, but with understanding comes empathy. Empathy then breeds kindness, and that’s an improvement for us all.
And perhaps, we should change CNY to Lunar New Year. Just food for thought.
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