Welcoming the Year of the Tiger

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Today is the third day of the Year of the Tiger and I am glad the new year is finally here because the preparations leading to it had been most exhausting! Sometimes I wonder why we leave it to the last to clean out our cupboards and spring clean the house just when the new year is around the corner, when it could be an ongoing process throughout the year!

Well, this year, I decided to start as early as December 2009, first with the washing of the curtains, room by room, then the bedcovers, carpets and slowly down to the cleaning out of the cupboards. Our maid had been a great help cleaning and washing without a single complaint and she was duly rewarded by the many "ang pows" she received from relatives and friends! Then a "good" day had to be chosen for spring cleaning, mainly removing cobwebs and dirt from the ceilings and odd corners. Fortunately the spiders had not been very busy this year but still the whole process had to be carried out - in the traditional way. We bought bamboo leaves from the market (at RM2.50 per bunch!), tied them to a long bamboo pole and swept the house inside out. My maid, who is from Cambodia, had never seen this done before and she had quite a bit of fun doing it.

Added to the household chores was the cleaning of our altar. Mum is very meticulous when it comes to this. A "good" day had to be chosen and the statues of the Gods had to be given a "bath". Then the various items for worship had to be bought and decorated with red paper. These include pineapples, bottle gourds, Mandarin oranges, "ti kueh" and "huat kueh" all of which are very auspicious for the new year. Fortunately they make adhesive paper decorations nowadays so we were saved from working with sticky starch which we used in the old days. Once the altar is set up, we can consider our duties done! I took a picture of it which you can see below. Oh yes, the Kitchen God had to be sent off first and one must remember to welcome him back on the 4th day of the new year!

On Chinese New Year's eve at around midnight, my mum prayed for blessings to be conferred on the family with a giant joss stick which is supposed to last for 12 hours. However, when we woke up the next morning, all of it had burnt to cinders. This practice of "chiap nee" (an age old custom to ensure a smooth transition from the old year into the new one) is considered very important for a family's health and wealth.

Prior to this, we of course had our reunion dinner at a nonya restaurant, one of the few which opens on new year's eve. We had the usual nonya fare and this time the restaurant was kind enough to arrange free parking for its customers, though we were too late and all available parking space had been taken up when we arrived. Nevertheless, it was a good dinner, unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera...!

Now that things have quietened down and our visitors have come and gone, we can relax over a cup of "geng geng kua teh" (a sweet "tea" made from dates and dried longan boiled in water with a little sugar).

Here are some photos I took of the New Year lunch gathering we had at my Aunt Swee's apartment in Batu Ferringhi. The number of our relatives has dwindled with passing time and there are less houses to visit every year! Some modern families have given up the tradition of home visits but I think it is good to look up lonely old relatives especially those whose children are living overseas, and bring them some cheer.

Our host, Aunt Swee

Some of the lovely food served

Here are a few cousins who have not met for a long time!

Tucking into lunch This cousin prefers to take her lunch out on the verandah overlooking the sea These little girls are two of a cousin's three granddaughters.

After lunch, it was down memory lane as we went through Aunt Swee's old photo albums

Another shot of Aunt Swee
After this, the next auspicious occasion will be the prayers to the Jade Emperor ("Ti Kong") on the 8th day of the new year. Will keep you posted!