Chinese Memories

Chinese Memories

               In my dream, I wish every day is a holiday, so I can have a long break. In fact, since I moved to Chicago my dream has broken. Although there are many festivals and celebration styles from different countries in Chicago, I cannot have a long break like for Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is the most important festival in China, and it takes fifteen days to celebrate it. In addition, the holiday requires some preparations before, and many customs during in the Chinese New Year. However, when I moved to Chicago, I could not celebrate Chinese New Year like in China because people need to go to work and school. Due to this reason, I think Chinese New Year is losing its meaning in Chicago, so I miss my old Chinese traditional New Year.

              The first thing that I miss is the preparation. I remember before every Chinese New Year my mother would buy some new Chinese red clothes for me to wear even though I did not like them.  Also, on traditional Chinese New Year, families got together and cleaned their whole house because people from the past were superstitious. Therefore, people believe that they would be lucky in the next year if they did these preparations before Chinese New Year. On the other hand, Chicago does not have a Chinese traditional clothes store. Thus, people cannot buy the new clothes for the new year. Besides, my family already forgetting to clean the house because my mother is tired after work and I need to go to school.   As a result, Chinese people still have Chinese New Year, but we don’t do many preparations in Chicago.

              Furthermore, visiting family and friend is a fun activity during in the Chinese New Year.  In Chinese New Year custom, people have to visit their families and friends on the second day of Chinese New Year. In my memory, people brought fruit and gifts to my house. Adults were talking and laughing. Children were happy because they could receive gifts and red bag. Moreover, I could hang out with my friends all night during in Chinese New Year, and we would always play Ma Jiang 麻将together. Sometimes, our daily lives were busy, and we could not have time together anymore, but that was a good chance for us to join a big party on Chinese New Year. However, Chinese New Year is not a big holiday in Chicago. I have to go to school, and my parents and other family members have to go to work. We don’t even have time to celebrate together even though we live close to each other. Also, these is no Chinese New Year ambience in the street because Chinese New Year is not an official festival in Chicago. Since I moved to Chicago three years ago, I have missed that fun activity in my heart.

              The last important part of Chinese New Year is food. Festivals must have food, but Chinese New Year has a different food custom. People need to know what kind of foods they eat that can bring good luck. For example, my family had to eat dinner together on the day before Chinese New Year. Also, they were careful to choose food because they didn’t want to eat some foods that could bring they bad lucky. For this reason, many Chinese restaurants give a lucky name to their menus. Furthermore, dinner needed to include BBQ pork, chicken, fish, shrimp, and abalone. After dinner, we needed to eat grapefruit and glue pudding, which signifie harmony and happiness for the family.  Of course, Chicago has Chinese restaurants too, but our family members are busy. They just cook some simple foods when the New Year is approaching. Except they are tired after work, and they have different schedule which means that there is no more Chinese New Year dinner together.

              Living in Chicago is a good thing, but it makes me miss Chinese New Year. There is a proverb in Chinese that says, “people cannot have the fish and the bear’ paw at the same time,” which means people cannot have both at the same time. They must choose one of them. In Chicago, I don’t have a big family party. I cannot hang out with my friends, and I even cannot eat local Chinese food. I am afraid if I live in Chicago for a long time, I will lose the feeling of Chinese New Year.  However, I believe that I will not never forget this festival because I am Chinese. Afterwards, although few Chinese people cerebrate Chinese New Year in Chicago, I wish Chinese people keep having their style to celebrate Chinese New Year and don’t let this festival disappeared because it gives me many happy memories.