Why I dislike Chinese New Year
DISCLAIMER: I love my family and extended family and friends, everything here is just a general idea of what CNY entails and the practices — or malpractices — of this tradition and how it has evolved in my society of Singapore. This is purely a rant and should be taken with a massive bathtub of salt, I am merely talking rather melodramatically and exaggeratedly for comedic purposes.
As Chinese New Year is just around the corner, I would like to express my opinions on this archaic tradition that I really really don’t like.
I know, I know, as a Chinese, I should be proud of my roots as a Chinese and celebrate this festive season with joy and jubilance, but the truth is, it just does not align with what I would constitute as a celebration.
The giving of Ang Pows
Good ol’ red packets filled with money, and who doesn’t love money? Well, that has what Ang Pows had became — basically free money. They are given from married couples to non-married people, usually the kids and teenagers, and occasionally adults. It used to be blessings with money as a small token, but has become money with blessings as a small token. As our society becomes gradually more and more materialistic and capitalistic, we actually value the money more than the meaning behind it. I’m aware, I’m no saint myself, I also love the cash in these red packets— like I said, free money — but I do feel the inclusion of money trivialises the sentiment behind this practice. Everyone receiving red packets just wish to get through the formalities of “恭喜发财” and “新年快乐” (they mean “congratulations on striking rich” and “happy new year”) to get the red packets in their hands. It is an occasion when we put on pseudo-genuine smiles and put up shows for everyone to see for the attainment of money. Classic.
Besides the giving of money, we have to go behind the scenes, to the nights when married couples plan out how much money to give their father’s mother’s uncle’s grandson’s fourth cousin, twice removed. When we go visiting during Chinese New Year, these married couples usually get bombarded with kids wishing them a happy new year, eyes filled with innocuous lust for that red-enveloped goodness. The more calculating parents will take note of which red packets came from whom, checking the amount inside when they get home, and give them the same(or less) amount of money for their kids the following year. Or basically do what this guy overheard — get your kids to receive the red packet first, check the amount in the toilet, then pack a red packet that is equal to or less than that value to their kids, what an economic solution!
Right, all these talk about kids, so a married couple with no kids will never break-even right? Since they only give and never receive, so yes, they are pretty much fucked. So is this a pressure from the tradition to force the couple to have lots of kids? Well yes, as the traditional Chinese custom was to have many kids to symbolise fertility, succession, and a big family. But in this society where children are getting fewer, childbirth were brought later(if at all), this practice of giving is becoming more and more irrelevant. However, I do like to think that couples with kids should receive some money as raising a kid is not easy(nor cheap), so childless couples should see it as sponsoring and appreciating their relatives and friends for starting a family, and not a petty obligation.
The puns
This gets me every time. The Chinese are just obsessed with puns, very frustratingly so. They love to take certain sounds of words and make a big fuss out of it, classic example — the number “four”(四), which sounds like “death”(死). They like hanging the word “prosperity”(福) upside-down as “upside-down” sounds like “arrive”, so an upside-down prosperity is as good as prosperity that arrived. Eating sweets will entail a sweet year, fried food resembles gold, eating some black moss(发菜facai) will make you strike rich(发财facai).
The superstitions
You can’t take a bath or wash your hair on the first day of the Lunar New Year as it equates to washing your wealth away.
You can’t use a broom or clear trash during the new year period as it also casts away your wealth out the door.
You can’t take a nap on the first day as it would signify laziness in the coming year and suffer in your career.
You can’t break any dishes as it would mean breaking you wealth.
You can’t eat porridge or medicine because it is for the poor and the sick, and doing so will signify a poor/sick year ahead.
You can’t wear black or especially dark coloured clothing as it symbolises death.
The later children stay up on New Year’s Eve, the longer their parents will leave. A good excuse to play computer games all night, win-win.
There are many more I was told not to do as a child but in recent years these traditions have faded away quite a lot, probably for the better. Because, sometimes, I just want to take a fucking bath.
Conclusion
Of course, there are many more traditions I missed out on, but what I’m trying to get at is this — Chinese New Year practices are facets of the past, when poverty was rife and realities easily distorted by superstition. It is easy to find things to blame like, “I must be poor because I accidentally broke a bowl on Chinese New Year,” and so on. We can use these traditions and superstition to find excuse for our misfortunes, even justifying it. And somehow eating more black moss and refusing to take a bath will make you richer is right-out delusional.
As you can see, the Chinese really loves to focus on money — most practices and beliefs revolve around wealth and riches, perhaps due to poverty experienced by our forefathers in China way before Singapore was founded. So it became entrenched in us that becoming rich is the definition of success and happiness, that you should avoid doing things that will [insert verb here] your wealth away. Frankly, this needs to stop, we need to redefine the Chinese New Year. It should just be a time when we visit friends and relatives, catch up, share stories, laugh and have fun, isn’t that enough?
Again,
DISCLAIMER: I love my family and extended family and friends, everything here is just a general idea of what CNY entails and the practices — or malpractices — of this tradition and how it has evolved in my society of Singapore. This is purely a rant and should be taken with a massive ladle of salt, I am merely talking rather melodramatically and exaggeratedly for comedic purposes.
And if you liked it, please give it a ❤! And share with me what other practices you find irrelevant and frustrating during CNY. Thanks for reading!
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