Year of the Ox
Before the pandemic, members of the local Chinese and Chinese-American communities often celebrated the Lunar New Year with a feast and performances at Swarthmore Presbyterian Church. Photo courtesy of Swarthmore Presbyterian Church
Musical presentations on native Chinese instruments were central to the festivities. Photo courtesy of Swarthmore Presbyterian Church
February 12 marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year celebration. With big celebrations off the table because of COVID, families in our community are celebrating in smaller ways.
Mei Long:
Usually people would have big gatherings with families and friends for the Lunar New Year. We typically go to a close friend’s house for a big celebration, as her parents normally come during wintertime to visit them from China. So, with her parents there to cook even more of the traditional Chinese food, we would get to enjoy a big and scrumptious New Year’s Eve dinner, and the kids would get their lucky money bag (or “hongbao”).
This year, though, due to the pandemic, we haven’t been able to get together for any dinner at all. We were able to go to the beach and do some other fun outside activities in the warmer months. However, since the arrival of the colder months, most families are just keeping to themselves.
This year, my family will have just welcomed a new family member as the new year begins. We will be busy taking care of our newborn and probably won’t have much time to make any traditional food.
Maybe by next year life will be back to normal.
Honghong Sun:
The first thing people do in the morning of the first day of new year is to set off firecrackers to scare away evil spirits and ghosts, so that we will have a smooth and happy year without any worries.
Another thing people do is to paste “spring festival couplets” around door frames: one poem down the left side of the door frame, one down the right, and one across the top. (“Spring Festival” is another name for the Lunar New Year.)
The activity that kids like most is “red pocket.” On the first day of the Lunar New Year, parents and grandparents give kids red pockets to wish them good luck. Inside the red pockets is real money.
Dumplings are a traditional food. This recipe explains how to make real Chinese dumplings: swat.ink/chinese-dumplings.
Jing Hu:
Dumplings are the must-eat food for the Lunar New Year. Here’s a recipe:
Pork and Chives Dumplings
Dumpling wrappers (you can also buy machine-made wrappers from a Chinese grocery store):
Ingredients:
1 lb. all-purpose flour
1 cup water
½ teaspoon salt
Directions:
Stir the water and salt into the flour and mix to make a dough. Put the dough in a bowl, cover it, and set it aside for 15-20 minutes.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes.
Roll the dough into long pieces, then cut each long piece into smaller ones. Shape the smaller pieces into balls.
Roll each ball into a flat circle about 2 to 3 inches in diameter.
Dumpling filling
Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground pork
1 lb. fresh chives
1 piece of ginger
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 egg
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Assembly:
Cut the fresh chives and ginger into small pieces.
Mix all the ingredients together until the filling has a soft, smooth texture.
Wrapping:
Put some filling in the center of a wrapper.
Fold in half, then fold each edge in toward the middle and pinch shut. (You can dampen the edges of each wrapper to help them stick together if needed). When finished, it will look a bit like a little fan.
Cooking:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and throw the dumplings into the boiling water.
Stir them around in the water and cover the pot.
A few minutes later, the water will come to a boil again. When it does, add some cold water, then let it come to a boil one more time.
Soon the dumplings will float to the top, which means they are done.
Enjoy them!
