Writer Sylvia Vetta had her debut novel, Brushstrokes in Time released this month so she tells us about the things we never knew about Chinese New year.
Brushstrokes in Time
Chinese New Year is celebrated by one fifth of the world's population.
In China people have at least one week's holiday. Traffic can be slow because this is the time of the world's largest annual migration of people as families come to together to celebrate.
The date of Chinese New Year
is based on the Chinese lunar calendar but is always somewhere in the period from January 21 to February 20. The festivities start the day before the New Year and continue until the Lantern Festival, the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve this year is on Sunday Feb 7.
According to legends,
the origins of Chinese New Year may have started with the fight against a mythical beast called the "Year" and small scale celebrations may have taken place as early as 2000 BC! China has a long history!
Chinese New Year is celebrated across the world,
with the biggest celebrations outside of Asia taking place in London and San Francisco. At 10 am on (Valentine's Day) Sunday February 14th crowds gather in Trafalgar Square for the annual dragon led parade. (Dragons are powerful but lucky!) The route goes down Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue to Chinatown. At 12pm firecrackers are the noisy overture to the stage performances of traditional dance troupes, acrobats, dragon and flying lion dances, opera and martial arts performances.
Celebrating with your family:
Celebrations centre on the most important meal of the year, the reunion dinner with family on New Year's Eve. Giving red envelopes, firecrackers, new clothes, and decorations play their part in raising spirits. Qu Leilei the Beijing born but now Wimbledon based artist who inspired my novel takes pleasure in a simple New Year celebration. He loves sitting around his dining room table with the extended family making Chinese dumplings.
Food:
What unites people of Chinese ancestry where ever they live in the world is their cuisine. Food is the cornerstone of the celebration of Chinese New Year. The banquet dinner, when families gather together, is celebrated on the eve of Chinese New Year. It is believed that one should not clean or cook on the day itself: that will bring bad luck to the household. (Which is not like Xmas celebration here!). Various types of dishes are served and it would normally comprise of fish, pork/chicken, either braised or stir fried and greens cooked in different ways. Having fish is a sign of prosperity. The number of dishes should be even numbers and not odd numbers, as it symbolises harmony. Dumplings are served too and very often the family join in preparing them. All the dishes are placed around the table where people serve themselves.
Drinks:
Sian Liwicki, owner of The Bothy Vineyard, was bought up in Singapore.
Chinese food is savoury and besides the traditional drinks that partner sumptuous Chinese New Year meals - clear Chinese broths or good quality black tea - I love to pair dishes with full bodied white wines. Examples are rich, buttery white Burgundies, soft and full Viogniers and of course the Bothy's own Renaissance which is a soft, peachy and complex wine made from the Ortega grape. These wines do not shrink from the robust Chinese flavours that make our food so satisfying. The very spicy northern Chinese cuisine is now becoming more common in England and for these you might want to find a medium sweet Gewürztraminer, or a chilled larger, to pair with the heat. In South East Asia, from where I hail, there is a typical Chinse New Year dish - the sweet and sour, multi-textured Raw Fish Salad. This is a delicious and light salad which contains just enough fish to taste and add texture, for it is dominated by a multitude of finely sliced, raw vegetables, crispy wonton skins and nuts. The mixture is tossed high in the air by the whole party with their chopsticks, amid much good cheer and wishing of good luck and health. In this particular case, I would suggest a pairing with a rich sparkling wine - perhaps a quality English Sparkling Wine.
The Year of the Monkey
The Chinese Zodiac is based on a twelve-year cycle, and each year is related to an animal sign. (the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. ) In Chinese astrology the sign of your birthday represents your true nature. 2016 is the year of the monkey so in the Trafalgar Square celebrations there will be monkey dancers and acrobats take to the stage to celebrate the Year of the Monkey and pyrotechnics illuminate Nelson's Column at 5.20pm on Feb 14 .
Wear red:
I'll make sure I will wear red on Chinese New Year as red is meant to be lucky and black unlucky during the celebrations. I'm not usually superstitious but as the publication date of Brushstrokes in Time is on Feb 2 and is close to Chinese New Year, I'm taking no chances! I'll go with the tradition.
Bad luck on February 8?
Let's hope this superstition is wrong or a lot of us will have bad luck. Crying children: The cry of a child is believed to bring bad luck to the family, so parents do their best to keep children as happy as possible.
Brushstrokes in Time by Sylvia Vetta is published by Claret Press. £7.99. www.sylviavetta.com