Over a billion people celebrate the Chinese New Year next week and a handful of Grand Forks residents will be taking part.
The new year falls on Feb. 10 this year and it is the year of the snake.
Last year was the year of the dragon – the most desirable year in the Chinese zodiac, but the snake is the opposite.
“(Snakes) call themselves little dragons,” laughed local businessman Baun Mark, who has been in the country most of his life but he still follows some Chinese traditions. “A lot of it is superstitious. It’s for people that believe in astrology.”
Chinese New Year is the biggest event of the year. It could be equated with the popularity of Christmas in Western culture. Families take weeks to prepare for the big day by cooking, cleaning, buying new clothes, organizing their finances and purchasing gifts.
Baun and his wife Mei-Lan are from the southern part of the country and in southern China, it is tradition to hold a night market after a day of feasting. This is where the dragon and lion dances take place. Businesses dangle cabbages filled with money from their windows and acrobatic dancers jump up – even if it’s two or three stories – to eat the cabbages and retrieve the coins. Families shop and buy items like fresh flowers and decorative orange trees.
In Northern China, the market is held during the day and dancers knock on business doors and collect the lucky money. Businesses welcome the dancers because they bring good fortune.
Money is also passed to the younger generations in red envelopes. In the northern part of the country, children under 18 get lucky money but in the south, it’s not uncommon for anyone that is still single to be on the receiving end, notes Mei-Lan.
Regardless of where the Chinese live, once they reach a certain level of maturity they start giving lucky money instead of receiving.
A huge part of the celebrations is feasting. Dishes of chicken, duck, fish, pork and a variety of seafood are served. This is the time of year to be extravagant and the most expensive seafood and cuts of meats are used. Vegetarian dishes are also on the table as well as many sweets.
Each dish is chosen because it has meaning. Fish represents prosperity. In Northern China, a dish of meatballs will have four meatballs because it represents security.
Family and friends will visit each other and bring food dishes and other treats including dim sum made from sweet rice dough.
Fireworks are seen throughout the entire celebrations.
“Any time (they) have an opportunity to blow off fireworks they do,” said Baun, adding they are used to chase evil spirits away.
While it’s hard for the Mark family to celebrate Chinese New Year in a small, western community like Grand Forks, they do celebrate in their own way despite the challenges.
They have adopted Christianity, which doesn’t leave room for superstitions, says Baun, and his family is spread across North America. Of all his children, only the two that still live at home will be with them for the celebrations.
“We do have a good feast and try not to speak any ill,” he said. “We do have the best dishes we can.” A lot of their food is made of vegetarian dishes or poultry. Mei-Lan said she would make two or three main dishes with several side dishes.
On years when they can go to Greater Vancouver, things are a little more festive.
“Here we have a big feast but there are no big markets here. At the coast, we participate in a lot of the festivities,” he said.
This year Chinese New Year overlaps with British Columbia’s first Family Day, which gives them a little more time to celebrate. However, it’s still quite different from China, where the festivities last for over a week.