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!
