This year is a big year in the Asian community. It’s the year of the dragon.
“We’re happy to do the year of the dragon because it’s a very powerful year and very auspicious and everyone feels lucky when they’re in the year of the dragon,” says local board member of the Organization of Chinese Americans Anna Wong.
Wong says it’s a special year that represents strength, “Many Chinese families like to have babies that year.”
But be careful. Some say if you were born in the year of the dragon subsequent years of the dragon could be a little difficult.
Wong says, “It’s not necessarily unlucky. It’s just that maybe you have to be a little bit more careful that year. You would think that it’s your year and it would be very special for you so you’re in a good year. But those who are born in those years, not the babies necessarily, but people just have to be a just a little bit more careful.”
You can use the term Lunar New Year and Chinese New Year interchangeably, but Wong explains, “A lot of people say Chinese New Year because it originated with the Chinese celebrating it and with other countries coming in, I think just to make it a little bit more clear, they just call it Lunar New Year.”
That’s mainly to differentiate it from the garden variety January first holiday. It’s a really compelling celebration, too. We’ve all seen the firecrackers and lion dances, but what else is done to celebrate the holiday?
Wong says, “We eat together so we have special foods that we put on the table that bring us good luck for the year and we play games. And it’s fun for the children.”
The kids get a red envelope that has money in it! Lots of fun there and the foods eaten have special meanings.
“A lot of it is based on the fact that it sounds like ‘fortune’ or it sounds like ‘good luck’ in the Chinese language. So we eat fish and the fish in Chinese would have a very fortunate meaning. We eat nuts for prosperity, for good fertility and oranges because they’re a symbolic fruit for us as well,” says Wong.
So load up on those nuts if you’re looking to expand your family!
Wong goes on to say, “There’s a lot of superstitions in some of these things but it’s been so traditional that it’s just become like once a year that you look forward to eating all these things together as a family.”
There are other things done with an eye toward keeping your good fortune like doing a big house cleaning.
Wong says, “You don’t clean on the New Year’s Day because you don’t want to sweep away all your good fortune and just have a clean house. So a new start really for everything. You wear new clothes and it just signifies a new beginning.”
This year is special because it is the year of the dragon and the dragon is the only animal in the zodiac that is mythical.
“All the other animals that we’ve had are usually animals that we are familiar with. We just finished off the Year of the Rabbit, and next year will be Year of the Snake,” Wong explains.
So if you’re interested in celebrating the Year of the Dragon, there are plenty of Chinese or Asian restaurants having special celebrations, and the Milwaukee Chinese Community Center is having its own celebration too. Check it out here.
So here’s wishing everybody a happy Year of the Dragon. Gong hei fat choy!
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