新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

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新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

Postby LaoWai » Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:40 pm

February 16th is the first day of the Year of the Earth Dog. (At least one member should be excited about this year.) Since tonight's the Eve, I'll be out celebrating.

Anyone wanting to get into the spirit of the holiday can do so by having a big dinner with family or friends. Putting fish on the menu is considered lucky (because 年年有鱼 sounds like 年年有余--or, "Fish every year" sounds like "Surplus every year"), and if you happen to have a Chinese restaurant serving it nearby, 年糕 (New Year's cake) is a sort of sticky cross between a pudding and a noodle that's also considered lucky. (Some Korean restaurants would maybe serve that, too.) Since my friends are more Northern, some time after midnight we'll be making dumplings (饺子--these look like the old form of Chinese currency, 元宝). These are also supposed to be lucky. Luck is a big part of the New Year.

Just at midnight, it's custom to make a lot of noise. Bang on pots, light firecrackers and set off fireworks. Obviously, only do this if it's not going to disturb everyone around you.

Anyone who's part of the TCS All-Nighters Club can take comfort that they're already observing the custom of 守岁--staying up all night well into the next morning to ensure your older family members' longevity. This is also considered an especially good time to avoid fighting and crying and the time to resolve conflicts, in order to set the tone for the next year, since a year that starts in strife or sorrow will stay that way the whole year. Resolutions aren't really that common, though Western influence means that more and more students have started resolving to get better grades.

Obviously, there are tons of other traditions, and if you all have questions about them, drop them here. I won't be answering them until late tomorrow, because I am definitely observing 守岁.

Since I just finished cleaning and decorating, and since fireworks, are already starting outside, I'm going to get ready now to join the fun.

Happy New Year, everybody!
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Re: 新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

Postby DoglovingJim » Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:43 pm

Year of the Earth dog you say? Heck maybe my year will turn around...

Regardless, happy new year LaoWai.
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Re: 新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

Postby Ladki96 » Thu Feb 15, 2018 1:00 pm

I myself celebrate தமிழ்புத்தாண்டு (Tamil New Year) on 14 April. We celebrate by giving gifts, vsiting each other's homes and temple, and having a big feast like you said ^^

In any case happy new year LaoWai! Let's hope to have a pleasant, happy atmosphere today then, in our real lives as well as on here, so every day can be like that =) have a good, lucky day everyone <3
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Re: 新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

Postby JamishT » Fri Feb 16, 2018 6:45 am

Happy New Year, LaoWei!

Also, what is it with "this word sounds or looks like that completely different word, so say this word or do something related to it for luck!" thing that seems so prevalent in China? Is it just as prevalent in other countries? It's certainly not in the US, so it's quite noticeable.
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Re: 新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

Postby Tuli » Fri Feb 16, 2018 10:16 am

新年快乐!

To answer JamishT's question: Mandarin Chinese simply has an extremely limited number of possible syllables. It's only around 400 syllables, or somewhere between 1200 and 1600 when you account for the different tones (the "same" syllable said with a flat, rising, falling or falling-rising tone conveys different meanings in Mandarin). Contrast that with the rough estimate of at least 10 000 distinct syllables in English, and you get the idea. The abundance of homophones in Mandarin makes all kinds of wordplay widespread. Another example of this is puns being the main form of comedy in China, from what I saw.
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Re: 新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

Postby LaoWai » Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:49 pm

DoglovingJim wrote:Year of the Earth dog you say? Heck maybe my year will turn around...

Regardless, happy new year LaoWai.


Hey! I just turned my first post green since getting back! Here's hoping luck turns around for both of us, Jim.

As another example of the homophone/look-alike phenomenon Jamish was wondering about (which Tuli did a great job of answering, incidentally), people here often hang the character 福 ("luck") upside-down on doors. This is because the word for "upside-down" (倒) looks and sounds like the word for "arrive" (到). So 福倒了 ("luck turned upside-down") sort of invites 福到了 ("luck to arrive"). That's almost a bilingual pun, there, since we say luck turns around.

Incidentally, learning to actually write 福 upside-down (especially with your left hand) also invites Chinese people to ask, "How in the world do you do that?" and use up half of your notebook pages trying to do it. I should have figured out a way to monetize that skill last night.

Ladki, is mangai-pachadi as delicious as wiki makes it sound? Because it sounds delicious to me.
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Re: 新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

Postby Ladki96 » Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:12 pm

I like spicy foods more, haha. But I'm sure that is delicious if you are enthusiastic about sweet things ^^ I do like mango pickle! and salted-and-dried narthangai(citron bits), stuff like that are better accompaniments than pachadi of any kind, in my opinion :P
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Re: 新年快乐! (Happy New Year)

Postby LaoWai » Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:37 pm

It's more on the sweet side then, so probably not my cup of tea. Wiki made it sound more like a sweet-spicy-bitter-sour mix. I'm definitely more into spicy foods, especially sour-spicy and numbing-spicy. Dried, salted citron bits sound pretty good, too. Here, "candied" mandarin peels (橘子皮儿) are widely available, wildly salty-bitter, and awesome. I put them in my oatmeal, because if you've got to eat oatmeal, it might as well taste like something.
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