All About Your Child

Ok, most of us know about the DOs of CNY, like:-

• say auspicious greetings / words when one passes the Mandarin Oranges on every visit
• wear red or bright coloured clothes
• give Hong Bao (if you are married) to people who are younger than you and who are not married, as a blessing
• spring cleaning before Day 1 of CNY, an act of getting rid of the bad luck in the previous year
• buy new clothes, shoes, bedsheets, pajamas….., a ‘Fresh’ start in the new year
• decorate the house with as many red decorations as possible

Its the DON’Ts that hmmm…. I’m not too sure about. I remember there were much more than the handful I’ve listed below: –

• cannot mention the word ‘death’, ‘die’, ‘dead’, ‘funeral’, ‘sick’, ‘unluckiness’….
• cannot wear black clothings during visiting, because black is considered inauspicious
• cannot eat porridge on the first day of CNY, because porridge is a meal for the poor, so it symbolizes that you’ll have poor luck for the new year
• breaking a glass or anything that’s made of glass on the first 3 days of CNY is considered a signal of bad luck for the new year. To counter this, the person who broke the glass (accidentally) must say, “Luo Di Kai Hua” immediately. (direct translation: drop on the floor, flower blossoms)
• cannot sweep the floor on the 1st day of CNY, ‘cos you’ll be sweeping away the good luck. I ever argued over this point with my grandma before. “Maybe its sweeping away the bad luck!” She told me, the new year always brings good luck, that’s why its important to have your house squeaky clean before the new year comes (spring cleaning). I used to think the invention of vacuum cleaners were inspired by a Chinese… *laugh*
• this last one that I know is probably the Best for all the kids. Parents or Adults are suppose to control their anger and refrain from scolding or quarreling with anyone… So its a ‘no-holds-bars’ for children on the first day of CNY. This is the hardest of all, which I usually couldn’t follow through the first 24hours of the new year….*grin*

Do you know any other DON’Ts that are NOT listed here?

This happened on 27th January 2009

Background story as to why 2nd day of CNY is extra special to me:

Ever since my dad passed away 14 years ago, we hardly get in touch with his family, except for CNY. My dad has 11 brothers and sisters (including himself). Its a big family that is scattered all over Malaysia, Singapore and one in England. My dad was born in Malaysia, but during the time of Singapore’s Independence, he became a Singapore Citizen, holding a pink IC.

When my mom left home one year after my marriage, my sis and I went MIA (missing-in-action) completely. I didn’t want to answer questions like, “Where is your mom? Where did she go? Why did she leave?…”

It was till the day she passed away, that we ‘re-appeared’ to this big family. It felt really awkward when we appeared on 2nd Day of CNY 3years ago. For one, we were the only family without the ‘old folks’. Luckily, my boys diverted the relatives’ attention away. It’s much better now.

Many ask, why did we bother to go back after 8 years of MIA. Simple, I miss them. My mom did them wrong, but we didn’t. In all due respect, I should still meet up with them once a year. On top of that, my sis haven’t been getting a ‘decent’ amount of Hong Baos for 8years. With her steady relationship with her boyfriend, she would not be able to enjoy the privilege of receiving them for too many years now.

Ever since my grandma passed away, the 5 families in Singapore no longer go into Malaysia, it was the other way round. ‘Cos the eldest sibling is in Singapore. The photo above only shows less than half of the huge family.

This year, Binbin was extra cranky. His level of cooperation decreases as we head to more houses. Till this (left) happened while we were on the way to the 3rd house.

Allan stayed with him in the car for another half an hour before we decided to end his nap.

The last house we went was a relative we had not seen for 10years! We didn’t have much to talk about but Binbin sure enjoyed himself playing with their dog.

This pretty much ends the visiting craze of CNY. This Sunday, we will be visiting my Mom’s family. The family who took care of me since the day I was born. *smile*