The Beauty of Keeping Our Traditions Alive

All families of Chinese descent make this annual return to the family home to celebrate and pay their respects to their parents and elders. The reunion dinners used to be held in the family homes but many have opted to hold them in hotels and restaurants so that the huge responsibility of cooking the many dishes need not be placed on the shoulders of a few.
This Lunar New Year is one of the best for us. My son and his young family flew in to join our mandatory reunion dinner and to celebrate the new year.

Before we had our reunion dinner, we asked our departed ancestors for their blessings upon our families.  This is a very important cultural practice handed down from generation to generation, always initiated by the oldest male in the family who invites the ancestors to join in our celebrations.

 After the burning of our offerings to our ancestors, we began with our annual practice of saying prayers for our beloved parents who passed on 2 decades ago.  I lighted a white candle for my late father while my youngest brother lighted a red candle for my late mother. We said our own silent prayers.

Then we started our dinner by tossing the raw salmon salad which had been beautifully put together, the one for the adults had the face of the Dog since it is the Year of the Dog that we are ushering in while the other dish for the young ones were put together by their little hands. Still a creative piece of art!

                                                              Can you see the doggy?

                                                           Put together by little hands

Our pot luck dinner saw a good variety of delectable dishes, with the traditional Chinese New Year dishes as well as the usual home cooked food which were all very tasty as every dish was cooked with love.

Another tradition is to teach our young ones the right and proper way to address their elders. The form of address indicates the generation and on which side of the family the elder belongs.

My children will address my sisters as “Yee” so my second sister will be addressed as “Jee Yee” meaning second aunty right down to “Chit Yee” (my seventh and youngest sister). They will address my brothers as “Koo” so the oldest brother will be addressed as “Tua Koo” and second brother as “Jee Koo”. I’m the oldest in the family so my sisters’ children will address me as “Tua Yee” while my brothers’ children will address me as “Tua Kor”. 

My brothers’ children will address all my sisters as “Kor” so it will be from “Tua Kor” to “Chit Kor” (my seventh and youngest sister). In this way the “Yee” and “Kor” denotes the relationship in the family.

                        ( My nephew Andrew on the left addresses me as Tua Kor and my brother, seated on my left as Tua Peh while my youngest sister, standing behind me is addressed as Chit Yee.)

My children’s children and likewise my siblings’ children will address us, the older generation by adding “Po” to “Tua Yee” i.e. Tua Yee Po, or Tua Kor Po (that’s me) and “Kong” to “Tua Koo” i.e. “Tua Koo Kong” or “Tua Peh Kong” (my brother).

                                             The 2 little girls above address me as Tua Kor Po

In our family, this is strictly adhered to. If anyone were to simply address any of us as “Aunty” he or she will be rebuked by an elder, i.e. me and my siblings as this is considered a great disrespect. “Aunty” or “Uncle” is used when they address friends of their parents or non-family members.

So far everyone has been taught well and the youngsters are very correct and proper in their greetings. 

There is hope for our cultural traditions to survive if everyone plays his/her part to keep them going. It is our duty to see that our descendants do not lose them through indifference or a bad mindset.

Happy Doggy Year to all and sundry!! Woof! Woof!