Welcoming the Year of the Horse

To everyone who celebrates, happy Chinese new year! May the Year of the Horse bring joy, good fortune and health to us all :)

Although somewhat losing in terms of celebrants and "grandness" of festivity compared to the solar new year, virtually every Chindo* family celebrates Chinese new year (lunar new year). It's the one event where us Chindos become more "Chinese" and "in touch with our roots". No sarcasm there. I'm all for cultural things. And anything that comes in a red (or any colour within that spectrum, etc) paper packet ;)

My CNY was celebrated in the same way as previous years, with the CNY Eve spent at my grandma's house, and the other day spent spreading kionghi's and receiving hong bao's (or angpao as we call it) at my other grandma's house.

One thing I am always excited about CNY (other than the angpao's) is the food :D

 

Above is the picture of the awesome potluck that is dimensions apart from the Chinese food of Panda Express and the like. Okay so maybe not every single one of the dishes were of Chinese origin, but yeah. Any attempts of dieting during Sincia (the Chindo name of CNY) is bound to fail.

Oh. AND THE DOG.

 I have never held a dog before. Please don't judge xD

Daisy the Chihuahua! Or Desy or Desi or however it's spelled. The poor thing's fur was falling off at an appalling frequency, but she was as bubbly as ever. I lowered my hands a bit towards her as she was running around in an attempt to hold her, definitely not expecting her to care, but she enthusiastically stood up waving her little arms around trying to reach my hands. So adorable! Oh, how much she has grown :')

Sometimes you get an angpao from a relative you don't know and have no idea what to call them. Many times you will be asked the same, generic question many times by different relatives. They will most likely comment on how much you've "grown" or "lost/gained weight" over the past year. The wild laughter and cries of children (in my case, there were yodeling birds in cages as well) can either thoroughly delight you or totally torture you. Your relatives become your rivals when you get to the dining table, where all sorts of exotic, fancy dishes await peacefully. And on a random note, this year I did quite a lot of failed kionghi's, by unconsciously putting two fists together instead of covering one fist with the other hand. There were angpao's received and given, and one that I got had this really cute maneki neko on it. All in all it's a great time of year :)

恭喜发财! 万事如意! 年年有余!

How was your CNY/LNY celebration? :)

アリシア

*Chindo = a portmanteau of "Chinese" and "Indonesian" (中国系インドネシア人)

Now listening: A Thousand Years - Christina Perri