Last night for Family Night, we celebrated the Chinese New Year, which started yesterday. Having done a little research, we did activities that the Chinese typically do to celebrate their holiday.
We decorated in red, the color of luck and good fortune. We had a bowl of oranges, which the chinese have on display in their homes and give as gifts to symbolize prosperity in the year ahead. We also tried to form a pyramid out of our oranges.
I found and printed each of our family's names on the internet and printed them out. We made a scroll or vertical banner, which the Chinese hang in their homes during this time to decorate. On the banner, we each drew our Chinese name and then colored a few other things, like a dragon, flowers, bamboo and butterflies. This was everyone's favorite activity. The children all received lai see, which is money in red envelopes given to all the children and single adults in a Chinese household.
We ordered and ate chinese food for dinner, of course. We had beef and broccoli, orange chicken, pork lo mein,and chicken fried rice, egg rolls and fortune cookies! After everyone read their fortunes, we combined two of the Chinese traditions in our own way. Usually fireworks are let off and there is the big dragon parade. We didn't have fireworks or a dragon, so we used our chopsticks from dinner and some pots and pans and lids to make lots of noise (fireworks) and paraded around the room. The kids alos loved this activity as well. When do we ever encourage them to make lots of noise indoors??
It was a fun family night, doing things we had never done and experiencing a different culture's holiday.
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Wishing you good fortune and happiness!
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