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Happy Chinese New Year!
by Tammy Weisberger

If you prefer to avoid firecrackers and raucous parades, you'd better steer clear of the streets of your city's Chinatown on February 9! That's right -- it's just about Chinese New Year and this time, the parading crowd will be ushering in the Year of the Rooster! The rooster is known for being resourceful, observant, and direct -- so get ready for a very fulfilling year to come!

The Chinese follow a lunar calendar; this is why the holiday takes place in late January or February of the Western calendar. This year, February 9 marks the beginning of the Chinese year 4702. The celebration is also known as the Spring Festival, because the start of the Chinese New Year also marks the beginning of spring. In ancient China (and many areas of present-day China), life revolved around farming; with this in mind, it makes perfect sense to celebrate the planting of a new season of crops as the New Year. After all, a successful planting is the best guarantee for a successful -- and delicious -- year to come!

Red Envelopes and Oranges
It is an age-old Chinese tradition for the adults in every family to give their children (and nieces, nephews, grandchildren…) little "hong bao" (red envelopes) on the first day of the New Year. A red envelope is exactly what it sounds like -- a shiny red envelope -- except this one comes filled with money! The envelopes symbolize luck and wealth. The Chinese will also expect their children to eat as many cookies, oranges and orange-inspired dishes as they can stomach, to get their bodies prepared for the sweetness that the New Year will bring! Oranges symbolize good fortune because they are sweet and one of China's most abundant fruits. Join in on this delicious celebration and try some delightful cookie and orange-inspired dishes!

A Feast of Homonyms
Everyone in China knows better than to miss out on the most magnificent feast of the year. Trains, busses and highways are packed with people rushing to get home in time for the luckiest (as well as most fantastically delicious) feast of the year -- a feast that is largely comprised of homonym-inspired dishes. A homonym is a word that is either spelled or sounds the same as another word, but means something entirely different.

Chinese people make many dishes that have names that sound (or use ingredients that sound) like good luck wishes for the coming year. Turnips are cooked, because their name "cai tou" also means "good luck" in some dialects. Fish are served because the word for fish, "yu" sounds similar to the Chinese word for plenty, "yue." The freshwater fish carp is often served, because its name "li," also means "profit."

Finally, another popular Chinese dish is a side of dumplings or pot stickers, which the Chinese call "jiaozi." Dumplings are made not because they are a homonym but because they look similar to ancient Chinese money. In some regions of China, the chef of the house will secretly place a coin in the center of one jiaozi, and so the lucky person who bites into it and finds the coin is guaranteed an especially prosperous year to come!

In addition to these particularly auspicious foods, Chinese people load the table high with old favorites -- more than the family could possibly eat -- in the hope for abundance and wealth in the year to come. Choose one of our delicious menus and join in the celebration!

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