MANILA, Philippines – If your January 1 didn’t give you the kick-start you wanted, or if you’re finding yourself reluctant to let go of the holiday spirit, you’ll be glad to know we have one more big one to look forward to this month: the Lunar New Year, more commonly known to us Filipinos as the “Chinese New Year,†regardless of how long it’s been celebrated in the Philippines.
Our own affinity for it is easy enough to understand — no matter how weighty our Westernization is, we’re a country in Asia with a history connected to China reaching far back before the Spanish arrived. Moreover, we are fond of celebrating life with our families, particularly when there’s food involved.
Celebration of the Lunar New year is actually quite widespread beyond China, and consequently there are regional and geographical variations to traditions. Yet there is something in the spirit of the holiday — whether celebrated on the Chinese mainland, in Chinatown somewhere in the US, or here in Manila — that makes it quintessentially the Lunar New Year and sets it far apart from its western counterpart.
For starters, and perhaps this is the bit that will resonate with us the most — there’s the food. The looming New Year is a chance for renewal for every household, and what better way to wish for the best for the coming year than to ply your tables with food full of meaning and purpose?
Bare Basics
Fruit displays are essential to the festivities, with Mandarin oranges being the core way to go. Apart from being wonderfully festive fruit to display, oranges and tangerines stand in for the hope of wealth and luck — almost literally, if you know your Chinese language. Just don’t display them in groups of four. (Eight is a better number to work with, especially if you have eight different kinds of fruit).
Others fruit imbued with meaning are the pomelo, which is thought to be associated with prosperity, and melon seeds. The latter is thought to be related to fertility, and is sometimes replaced with sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
Some dishes and ingredients take precedence when cooking up the feast for the New Year, the names of which are usually similar-sounding or outright homophones to words of wealth, luck or longevity.
Noodles, for example, are often served uncut because they ought to be a long as possible, standing in for long life. Broccoli, string beans and other long greens should be long and leafy, since they stand it for the longevity of the parents in particular.
A whole chicken, supposedly an easy acquirement for any household, contributes to the wholeness of the table. Just as the family is not complete without every member present, so it is for the chicken and what it stands for.
Whole fish carries a slightly different meaning, though its wholeness is also very important. Typically put out on the eve of the New Year, the fish represents the wish for surplus — another meaning stemming from the sound of its pronunciation. Flipping the fish over is a big no-no, since it turns over the fishing boat that had caught the fish for you.
Dishing Out for the New Year
The whole fish aside, there’s an assortment of dishes typically associated with the New Year that brings out the best of the reunion dinner. At the heart of the celebration, after all, is time with family, united at the table, reflecting and renewing themselves for the year ahead. Below are just some of the dishes made with thoughtfulness and care at this time.
Buddha’s Delight, sometimes known as Jai if not its Chinese name, is famed as a vegetarian option in Chinese restaurants, but is actually an auspicious staple of the households more adherent of Buddhist teachings. The dish has a number of ingredients upwards of ten, and has its roots in the traditions of Buddhist monks. Eating vegetarian for the first few days of the New Year is supposed to be a way of self-purification.
Jau gok, also known as yau gok, are dumplings of Cantonese fare and can come in savory or sweet. Fillings depend on regional culture, but it stakes a claim as the “main Chinese New Year dumplingâ€. Their counterpart from the northern provinces, the Jiaozi, is probably the more familiar dumpling because of its popularity in restaurants around the world, all year round. Dumplings share a likeness to ancient Chinese gold ingots, thus standing in for wealth.
Tikoy is actually a local variation of Nian gao, the Chinese New Year’s cake made of glutinous rice. Originally considered a good-luck eat during this time of the year as an offering to the Kitchen God, its availability in the Philippines is owed to the Hokkien population. You can also bet it has a lot of variation across geography even within mainland China. It is perhaps the most well-known “Chinese New Year food†for Filipinos and is certainly a popular buy at this time of year.
Yusheng or lo hei is another bid for prosperity, being a kind of raw fish salad with a variety of shredded vegetables. It is more common in the ethnic Chinese communities of Malaysia and Singapore, and is mired in fascinating culinary history that has led up to its cultural importance. Typically, yusheng is served as the appetizer part of a multi-course meal, and more likely on the seventh day of the New Year; each ingredient is thought to have special meaning, and there is an element of preparation of the salad at the table that comprises a ritual for auspicious wishes. This “prosperity toss†culminates in an actual toss upward of some of the salad’s ingredients, the height of which is supposed to measure the growth of fortune.
Bak kwa is sweetened salty dried meat also indebted to the Hokkien populace, and tends to have as much geographical variation as tikoy. Bak kwa in Malaysia and Singapore is serious business for the New Year, with preparation and preservation techniques having been fine-tuned for centuries. It can be beef, pork or mutton, and by a Cantonese translation is associated with having robust fortune your future.