The Reunion Dinner
Typically held on the eve of the Reunion Dinner is a must-do for all Chinese families. The eldest of the family, sister, brother, mother, father who is the eldest traditionally opens his house or apartment to all his relatives and friends to come a visiting. There will be a Reunion dinner where all the younger siblings and their families would gather. People have known to fly back cross continents to attend this once a year must do activity. Of course all the generations will be present, so it is common to have grandparents, greatgrandparents, granduncles, grandaunts, parents,1st, 2nd 3rd, 4th, uncles and aunts present for this dinner.
In China, traditionally everyone would head home, which may be thousands of kilometres away in a different province and take hours even several days just to reach home. Hence, the Chinese New Year is the period traditionallt where all factories and Government offices shut for 2 - 3 weeks. It is a once a year event and the rest of the year the factories hum and churn out everything from IPhones to cars to military equipment.
The host in the old days would 'whip up a storm' to cook for this once in a year event. When China was poor, the peasants would put all their catch into a pot called 'pun choy' and steam it. So in it would be some Chinese sausage, some meat,vegetables, eggs thats all. Now with 20 - 25 odd years of rapid GDP growth, there are easily 500 million middle class Chinese. So the 'pun choy' is very filled with the best abalone, prawns, scallops and all the Chinese delicacies.
Friends come a visiting from far
One special dish created for the 'Loh Hei' or 'tossing for prosperity' is called Yu Sheng. Created in Singapore, the base is raw salmon slices, and the rest is shredded fresh vegetables like lettuce, carrots, beetroot and assortment of Chinese sweets. The significance of tossing for prosperity and getting all your friends and colleagues to join in is one of the 'traditions' of Singapore's Chinese New Year 'dos'. There is also a recital of all the good wishes for everyone ranging from good health "shen ti jian kang", happy family, "nian nian you yu" (every year there is abundance), "bu bu gao shen" (step by step improvement), "wan shi ru yi" and "sheng yi xing rong"(business success) and the like. See the video from one Reunion dinner at our house in 2013.
Yu Sheng dish, the traditional tossing of the ingredients for luck
While it is customary to wish everyone well and say nice things, do not bring the oranges and expect red packets (prosperity money) on the Reunion dinner or eve of Chinese New Year just yet. This is only given out on the 1st day of the New Year onwards. As far as the goodies and eats, here are the list of items which you and I would sample on the new year period (typically lasting for up to 15 days).
and near
Bak Kwa (Barbecued Pork)
Spring Rolls (fried)
Pineapple Tarts
Love letters
Chinese sweets
Kweh Chi (water melon seeds)
Kum or small mandarin oranges
Old friends from Sydney James and Shirley Goh.
Much as I love Chinese New Year, I am fortunately not a big fan of the sweets and snacks. Finally, on the First Day of the new year, one should not clean the house (all this is done in the days before - I did it once and was admonished for my ignorance), cut your hair in advance and wear new clothes to symbolise the rejuvenation process and new luck and money flowing in.
Also, in our household, we eat the Nian Gao or the new year cake without fail every New Year's Day.
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