Chinese New Year in Singapore,
Passion for Custom, Food, and Greeting
Chinese New Year is a big event in Singapore. As a country with majority of Chinese population, you’ll see the CNY celebration almost in every corner of the city. The festive mood even started a month before the actual day. Shopping malls adorn in red color decorations with luck & prosperity symbols gear up for sales. Chinatown will be the busiest and liveliest place in Singapore at this period. You’ll hear the festive songs, lights, and pretty decorations brought you to the festive mood. Also, during this time you’ll see people start queuing at the food stores selling Bakkwa.
Bakkwa is a barbequed pork slice. In Singapore people sending Bakkwa to relative or clients of the companies to celebrate CNY. The famous Bakkwa is those sold by
Bee Cheng Hiang
. Beside of Bakwa, cookies & cakes are must-have for Chinese New Year celebration. The famous one would be Pineapple Tart & Nian Gao.
Pineapple in Chinese sounds like arrival of good fortune. So, pineapple tart is a symbol of fortune. Due to its meaning, pineapple is also used as a festive ornament which normally comes in a form of gold-plated plastic.
Nian Gao (Nian/ sticky = year, gao= high) commonly called as a New Year Cake symbolizes a successful career & prosperity for years to come. Traditionally, the Nian Gao cake comes in a round shape with dark brown color wrapped in dried leaves. Today, the cakes are available in shape like gold ingot and swimming carp or goldfish for added wealth and luck.
Oranges and certain type of plants are also important for Chinese Singaporean to celebrate Chinese New Year. Some of them believe that putting the right type of plants in their home will increase their health, wealth, and luck in the coming years. People said that putting on the plant like Pussy Willow (jing yu man tang) will bring them great wealth and prosperity. It is the same as the Gold Tree (jing qian shu), Kumquat, Chrysanthemums, and Lucky Bamboo. It’s believed that the straight bamboo will keep someone luck in the past year while the twisted bamboo will make a person’s luck changed from bad to a good one. Sound absurd? Well, what should I say? Those are kind of belief that has been passing on through generations.
Now, what’s the meaning of oranges? Its yellow color skin probably is symbolizing wealth so it's displayed for good luck. The oranges are also given and received as a form of well-wishing. Singaporean usually brings two mandarin oranges when visiting relatives or friends. The host will then give back two new oranges. It’s a local custom – you might not see this in other countries.
Another tradition in Singapore is to toss of Yu Sheng during lunch or dinner gathering. Yu Sheng is a raw fish salad. Perhaps this is the true-blue Singapore’s dish. It was said that the dish was invented in the 1960’s by four famous Cantonese chefs in Singapore. They were tasked to create a decent looking dish which will be used to celebrate Chinese New Year – taste good & colorful. Yu sheng was then created! The dish was named Lo Hei- means that you have to toss it high (lo = toss, hei= high). Chinese Singaporean believes that when they proclaimed their wishes loudly while tossing the salad with chopsticks, their wishes will come true.
After the yu sheng normally Chinese New Year lunch or dinner will be continued with traditional CNY dishes which normally include: - Black moss with oyster (symbolizes prosperity and great fortune),
- Fish (means abundance),
- Prawns or "ha" in Chinese (sounds like laughter – means happiness).
As you know, preparing foods for CNY gathering or reunion dinner isn’t an easy task. So nowadays many people buy Pen Cai – the take away food from restaurant. You’ll find all of the above items in it. Last but not least, Chinese New Year is not complete yet without the Hong Bao and the greeting. Hong Bao or red-packet is normally hand out to the younger generation by the older generation in the family during or after the reunion dinner with well-wishing Chinese New Year greeting. There are many type and version of Chinese New Year greetings depending on the gender and age. Some of them are: - For the elderly:
long ma jin sheng - to wish them the energy and longevity of the horse & dragon - For the youngsters:
kuai gao zhang da – to wish them growing up strong and healthy- For the ladies:
qing chun mei li – wishing them to stay young and pretty - For the career-minded person:
nian nian gao sheng – wishing them good progress in their career in the years to come - General greetings for everyone:
wan shi ru yi – all things will go according to the wishes of the recipient
nian nian you yu – a wish for surplus & bountiful harvest year after year
sui sui ping an - a wish for everlasting peace for the coming years
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