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[OC] Lunar New Year Celebrations: Chinese-American Edition (lemmy.nz)

submitted 6 months ago by WongKaKui@piefed.social to c/pics@lemmy.world

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

crossposted from: https://piefed.social/c/theasiandiaspora/p/1785433/oc-my-lunar-new-year-in-usa-chinese-american-edition-philadelphia-pa

So this is like a table my parent put right by the door, then they get the fake money stuff and hold it in between the palm of their hands, do some prayer thing, then burn the "fake money", so the ancestors in the heavens can... checks notes ...get money to spend? Idk I'm so confused, as a 1.5 gen I don't even understand my own heritage either.

(Also why is Heaven run under capitalism? lmfao, but hey, at least we can relate to our "ancestors in the heavens", money struggles both in coporeal and non-corporeal forms 😆 (meant as a joke, pls don't bring the seriousness of politics here lol))

Honestly idk if I'd even do this stuff with my future chosen-family... I'm just very leaning towards atheism and, no offense to my ancestors, but this just seems kinda silly to me IMO.

I feel too Americanized already and doing this now makes me feel like I'm a "phoney" (as if I'm a "pretender to Chinese Culture"... like idk my mind doesn't feel very "Chinese" exactly... I haven't participated in the prayer thing ever since like teenage years and I read about atheism)

Also now its new years and I'm not allowed to mention "bad words" like... "death" and like no yelling allowed

Oh yea mom maybe can you do the "no scolding your children" thing 365 days a year? thanks xD

Bonus:

So anyways: Enjoy your Lunar New Years! (enjoy the few days of being immune from getting a scolding xD cuz it's bad luck to scold your children on New Years apparantly)

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[-] Elextra@literature.cafe 9 points 6 months ago

Happy Lunar New Years. A lot of Asian cultures celebrate, not just Chinese.

The story behind the food, drinks, and money behind our ancestors is really interesting. I didn't know that the process lasts days and there's a whole "journey" until I was a little bit older.

I'm an atheist myself but I still join in on these things. While I'm an American born it makes me feel closer to my family as they have always done it... Also who doesn't like red envelopes and well wishes for each other? I don't get red envelopes anymore but that's how I approach respectful people of different religions. Just engage and send my well wishes too. Celebrate and smile and learn what they day is about.

[-] WongKaKui@piefed.social 4 points 6 months ago

Red envelopes that my mom asked me for it to "help me keep it safe" 🫠

So in my experience, it's all just a big show, its performance.

[-] Jerb322@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

"Is there a problem?"

"It's...smiling at me......."

"Oh.."( chops head off of duck with meat cleaver)

"Better?"

No, really, looks good OP.

[-] Aqarius@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Though speaking of: how do you actually eat a whole duck using chopsticks?

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 months ago

I was raised atheist but I think these sorts of rituals are pretty cool even if you don't take them literally, it puts you in a different frame of mind.

[-] disregardable@lemmy.zip 5 points 6 months ago

I tried those sesame ball things recently and they're so good. happy new year.

[-] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 4 points 6 months ago

I hope you get rich!

[-] Corngood@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 months ago

Let the cat feast

[-] WongKaKui@piefed.social 3 points 6 months ago

My cat doesn't even wanna touch any "human food", only eats catfood. You can out fresh fish and she will not eat it. Only smell it.

In China, it used to be that there was food insecurity and cats just, unfortunately, get fed scraps of leftover food basically, and they actually had to eat mice.

Idk what happens in new years... probably get fed better? maybe? idk

My cat never eats the mouse, only kills them and leave them around. Sometimes my cat leave them half-dead and the mouse runs away.

So my cat is a privilaged American cat that gets to eats catfood whenever she wants, all year round lol

[-] NorthWestWind@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Happy Year of the Horse!

[-] WongKaKui@piefed.social 2 points 6 months ago

OMG 我屬馬嘅 I'm gonna be 24 this year after my birthday

Going off on a tangent:

But its funny how because 落地占歲 I'm technically unofficially 25 since I was considered 1 years old at birth??? (cuz 9 months spent inside a womb apparantly counts lmfao), and new years, even before your official birthday counts... towards your age...

So I ask my grandma, what happens if you were born the day before new years?

So you just become unofficially "2 years old", 1 day after your birth cuz of weird shenanigans... where you are 1 years old at birth, then on new years your age counts uo by 1?!? lmfao

So I was like "A 16 year + 1 day old person can say they're 18 then?"

I don't think a Mainlander can walk into a bar in China and get alcohol that way, only legal age counts lmfao, not this 迷信 stuff

But anyways... I kinda wanna magically become a horse and run around wild

My older brother was born in '97, the year of the Handover from British, so he got to visit HK fore free for bring born that year (or something like that, maybe I misheard), so that's why we went to HK for tourism as family... so long ago... I can barely remember.

My paternal grandpa would say something like: 牛耕田，馬食谷。 Because he's 屬牛 I'm 屬馬 so my brother didn't like that saying lmfao.

Anyways: 新年快樂

Family of Origin is so frustrating tho... 煩死啦

Oops I said the 死字

新年流流，唔好意頭 or something... i dont really care anymore...

[-] nialv7@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

yeah the age thing just makes you one to two years older for no reason. it's not nice when you are old :(

[-] nialv7@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

incenses in a 王老吉 can?!?

[-] WongKaKui@piefed.social 1 points 6 months ago

Hey, don't question me, not my doing LMFAO. 🤣

(Very frugal parents... literally every thing gets repurposed for something else. There are still stuff in the house that is never fixed... heater randomly quits working, bathtub randomly leaks water downstairs, refrigerator sometimes lets icecream melt, roach infestation... don't judge xD, not my fault. And my family is no longer poor anymore, not as of currently, just refuses to spend money to fix stuff since they grew up in poverty. Literally every penny gets invested)