Today is the seventh day of the Lunar New Year - the day of man. According to the ancient writings of Tung Fang So, censor to the Emperor Wudi under the Han dynasty, the first eight days of the year are dedicated respectively to the rooster, dog, pig, sheep, bull, horse, man and grain. If an ewe has lambs on the day of sheep (4th), her offspring will be exemplary... provided that the day is sunny. So it is on this day of the year that all Chinese change their age at the same time, rather than on their birthday. In China, when a child is born s/he is already one year old and if s/he is born on the 12th month, s/he will be 2 years old on the 7th day of the first month - even though s/he has only been in the world for a month! It is said that if the weather is clear and sunny on that day, there will be many births in the coming year.
To celebrate the event, the family gathers together around a banquet called "bai shou", meaning "pray for longevity". One of the essential symbolic foods for New Year is noodles, of which the length represents a wish for long life. When fried with meat and bamboo shoots, the dish symbolises "a wish for long life", since the character for bamboo sounds the same as the word for "pray" or "wish", and also because the evergreen and unchanging bamboo is a sign of youth and longevity.
We did none of the above though, but after doing this research, I'll most likely cook noodles next year! Here's wishing you a happy chinese birthday!
No comments:
Post a Comment