The Year of the Pig } Asian families celebrate the New Year on February 18, 2007 with traditional food and customs.
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Photo courtesy of Silver Legacy |
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The year of the pig.
Asian families celebrate the New Year on Feb. 18 with traditional food and customs.
Written by Camille Hayes
Photos courtesy of Reno Gazette-Journal and Silver Legacy
Imagine this holiday scene: a large extended family — parents, grandparents, cousins, and kids — gathers around a table piled with festive foods, to exchange gifts and warm good wishes. To many Americans, this probably sounds like a description of Christmas or Chanukah, but people of Asian descent might just as readily identify it as New Year’s Eve.
Local celebrations
- Chinese New Year concert with Samuel Tai and Yuen King Dan sponsored by the Eldorado and Silver Legacy on Feb. 18 in the Silver Legacy Grande Exposition Hall. For tickets, call (800)648-5966 or visit eldoradoreno.com or the Eldorado Showroom box office or with the Silver Legacy at (800)687-8733, visit silverlegacyreno.com or the Silver Legacy’s box office.
- The Eldorado celebratory Chinese New Year Buffets will run Feb. 19-23. Traditional music will be provided by Liu Qi-Chao, master of Chinese instruments, and free Li Shee, or Lucky Money, will be given to each guest.
Gifts of the New Year
Traditionally, people mark the New Year by handing out small gifts to family and friends. Many of the gifts have symbolic value.
- Red envelopes are filled with money and given to children. Red is the color of luck and happiness, and the money represents hope for future prosperity.
- Firecrackers also are popular with both children and adults; they are said to scare evil spirits, or bad luck, away.
- Candy is given to ensure that the recipient has a sweet year.
- Oranges often are presented to hosts, because the word for orange is phonetically similar to the word for gold.
All gifts are accompanied by the greeting, “kung hay fat choy,” which means “May you prosper!”
Sources: answers.com, west-meet-east.com
2007: The Year of the Pig
The Chinese zodiac, like that in the west, is based on a cycle of twelve, but it’s the year you were born that determines your sign. You’re a pig if you were born in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995 and now, 2007. According to folklore, people born under this sign are chivalrous, pure of heart and deeply loyal to their friends.
Source: chiff.com |
