Chinese traditions

Hi everyone,

Chinese culture is a very unique and nice one.  Every culture is very interesting to learn.  I was born and grew up with Chinese life and traditions.  I would like to tell you about Chinese traditions when I grew up.  Some of the traditions I like and some of them I don’t agree with.  In America, most children are always looking for Christmas holiday.  At that time, they are expecting their wishes to come true.  They want to see what they get inside of their presents.  They ask Santa Claus for their wishes.  For Chinese children around the world, they wait for Chinese New Year to come.  On Chinese New year, their families will help each other to clean the whole house, they believe to get rid of the bad luck.  Their mother will prepare all delicious meals.  My Mama’ always prepare a lot of authentic good Chinese food.  We always have the whole table full of Chinese food, my mouth is watering now.  Chinese children are not only looking for the great meal of the year.  They are looking for a lot of red envelope, inside the red envelope is money.  Red envelope ( Ang Pao in Hokkien and Lai See in Cantonese ) is a monetary gift which is given during holidays of special occasions.  The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits.  Red envelopes are typically given to the unmarried by the married.  All Chinese children are feeling rich on Lunar Chinese New Year.  They get the red envelopes from the grand parents, their uncles, aunts, etc.  The sound of drum, the dragon dance, the tiger dance, and the sound of fire crackers everywhere.  This is the sound of happiness by all the Chinese.

The wedding tea ceremony is one of the beautiful and touching traditions.  The bride and groom are wearing red wardrobes.  The red color symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits.  The bride and groom have to light candles, incense and offer foods for their ancestors ( most of them are written name tablets ).  They have to be on their knees and bow three times to be accept into the families and show their respects also.  Then the bride and groom serve each other a cup of tea and bow to each other to show their commitment and respect to each other.  After that the bride and groom are to be kneeling down in front of groom’ parents.  They serve a cup of tea to groom mother and father and ask them to accept a cup of tea.  They will say ” Mama’ yum cha and Papa’ yum cha “.  Once the parents take the cup of tea and drink, it means they are accept the bride into their families.  They will then give the bride and groom the red envelope and jeweleries as the gift.  The bride and groom bow three times and accept the gifts.  This Chinese wedding tea ceremony is still going on today.  It has been carry on thousand of years.

The Chinese parents love to have a son more than a daughter.  They want their sons to carry on their last names and for the daughters will belong to other families once they married.  When the Chinese families have a first borned daughter, they will keep trying to have a son to carry their last name.  That is why the Chinese government permit only one child per family.  They already have high population problem, other wise those families will keep having children to have a son.  I can understand this tradition, but I can not understand about their feeling toward their daughters.  They give their daughters to another families like a piece of furniture.  If they die, they will not leave anything for their daughter at all.  They think their daughter carry somebody else last names, they are not their family anymore.  What  a tragedy!  You treat your own flesh and blood that way.  I don’t agree with this Chinese traditions at all.  My grandfather did not leave anything for my Mama’ at all when he passed away.  Same thing happened to my sister, my Papa’ did not give my sister anything at all.  It is sad!  I will not do that to my daughter.  I will give her love, support and when I die she will inherit some of my belongings.  This is some of Chinese traditions I want to share with you today.

Hope you enjoy this post, I see you later.

Mana

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categories Culture | manaratana June 30, 2009 | comments Comments (0)

Me and my mother (Mama’) Part 2

Hi everyone,

When I was growing up, my Mama’ taught me not to waste anything including food.  My parents always encouraged us to eat a lot, but do not waste the food.  Rice was one of them, if we were still hungry, do get a  second serving but just get only what you can finish.  Mama’ explained to me that rice farmers worked very hard to grow rice and they were low income people.  They used  their blood, sweat and tears to grow rice.  All the Chinese family will tell their children the same, because rice is playing a big part of Chinese culture.  Mama’ did not waste anything at all, she saved all the Chinese newspapers so that we could use them to start the charcoal to cook.  I was growing up with the left over food.  When we finished the meal and had left over, Mama’ always saved them in refrigerator.  She would add one or two more new dishes to go with the left over.  When we had a lot of left over rice, she would make a fried rice dish.  In case you did not know that this is the history of fried rice- the left over meal.

Mama’ showed me to love and care about the other people.  She got a busy schedule at home, but she always made the time to visit our relatives on both side of the family.  She would buy oranges or tangerines to give to our relatives.  Mama’ told me that we should  not wait until they got sick to see them.  You should make the effort to see them while they are healthy and cherish the time of happiness with them.  My Mama’ is a loving and caring person.  She was always giving, not taking.  She was a kind of person that anyone will feel love  and care whenever they meet her.  One day, she took me to the thai temple to worship.  She gave money to a few beggars in front of the temple.  I said to her ” Mama’ don’ t give the money to the young beggar, he is young and strong enough to find job and make money.  I think that he is a fake to make an easy money.”  Mama’ said to me that ” we are here to do a good deed, we are not here to judge people.  You don’t really know about him.  He might fall in a hardship right now.  Look at his clothes how dirty it is.  Do you think people will hire him the way he look?  Of course not, they probably scold him and beat him up with a stick.  You always help the other people if they need the help.”  I will never forget what she taught me.

At home, I saw how much my Mama’ really love my Papa’.  She didn’t have to tell anyone about that, it showed.  When Papa’ came home from work, she would  greet him with a smiling face and asked how the day go.  She would bring him something to drink and took his socks and shoes off.  At the dinning table, she put food on his rice bowl from different dishes with her chopsticks.  She said to him that I want you to taste this dish to see if you like it.  When Papa’ ate it, she would give him more without his asking.  She served the meal to him with love.  When Papa’ worked around the house.  She always wiped his face with a cold towel.  She always took care of him.  Today some Oriental ladies are still doing it.  You can see this kind of love only in ancient Chinese movie.  In today society we should give more unconditional love and understanding of each other.

Goodbye for now,

Mana

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categories Culture, Family, Food, Mana's Story | manaratana June 15, 2009 | comments Comments (2)