Chinese Culture

"On the first day, when we siblings were rescued from the accident spot, your uncle was crying because he got frightened but I cried inwardly realising we were orphans back then." I lifted my daughter and placed her over my lap after being seated on the chair.

"We were surrounded with unknown people gathered around to sympathise us. So being the elder, I took my brother and walked away —" I was cut off in the middle by my daughter.

"Didn't you see grandma and grandpa for the last time?" she asked emphatically, with teary eyes.

"No, we never got a chance. They were in the front seat, after the car crashed, people managed to pull us out but they couldn't smear their hands in blood. So we never got our parent's dead bodies ever." I sighed thinking of the old time.

"We both walked the streets of Singapore, door to door in search of shelter and food. But all we got was pitying looks and closed doors." I caressed my daughter's head, "But we didn't lose hope. We kept walking door to door and that was when we saw the real Chinese New Year celebration which we couldn't experience then."

My daughter was gazing at me to show her eagerness to know more, "Do you want to know what we saw?"

She nodded with enthusiasm.

"If I remember correctly, it was the Year of the Dragon, while we were walking, we saw red chinese lanterns hung on trees in the streets. I and your uncle stopped in front of a huge house which had red lanterns in front of their doors." I closed my eyes to relieve my incident.

"My little brother asked me then, 'What are those hanging there?' and I said they were red chinese lanterns which is believed to drive off bad luck. And your uncle was so fascinated by the concept that he cried for a whole night to get a lantern."

"Poor uncle!" my daughter sighed.

"Haha, yeah" I chuckled, "We were captivated by the decorations of the house. Not only the red lanterns, but we saw couplets pasted both sides of their doorway,  the diamond shape couplet had inverted ' Fú ' which means fortune or luck. It was placed in the centre of the door, the character has been placed upside down because by placing it upside down there is an added meaning to the character 'upside down also means to have fortune arrive'. And paper cutting of peony plants on their glass windows—"

"Mommy, what is cou-plates and papper-cutting?" I was interrupted by my little angel.

"Baby, it is called couplets and paper cuttings. Couplets are brush works of Chinese calligraphy, in black ink on red papers. We usually write good wishes or statements, or poems about the arrival of spring while some are statements about what the residents want or believe in, such as prosperity or harmony. Often, in the same vein, a four-character idiom of well wishes is added to the crosspiece of the door frame as well."

"While paper cutting is an art of cutting designs out of paper typically red for the Spring Festival and then gluing them on doors or windows. Different image of an auspicious plant or animal typically provides the theme of the New Year's paper cutting. Each animal or plant represents a different wish."

"Um... like what peony plant represents since you said you saw that back then ?" my angel wondered.

"Peony represents honour and wealth and the mandarin duck represents love while the pine tree represents eternal youth."

"What else were there mommy?" She was eager to listen to my experience.

"Wait, let me remember! If I'm not wrong, we saw a kumquat tree at their home from the huge glass window they had."

"What's that mommy ?" she said with a frown on her forehead.

"It's a very symbolic tree, the Kumquat tree symbolizes a wish for both wealth and good luck. It's generally decorated with red packets."

"And the most beautiful sight that enchanted us was the blooming traditional flowers and plants that were used to decorate their home. Plants and flowers are very common and affordable that we use to decorate our houses."

"Why flowers, and why not lights, bells, and candles?" my baby asked.

"As I said earlier, Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival, which marks the beginning of spring. It is not uncommon to decorate houses with blooming flowers, which symbolises the coming of spring and wishes for a prosperous new year."

"Do you want to know a secret?" I decided to play with her.

She nodded enthusiastically.

"The most popular blooming plants that are traditionally used during the Spring Festival are branches of plum blossoms, orchids, peonies, and peach blossoms." I whispered in her ears, "It's a secret."

She tapped her index finger on her lips implying to keep silent.

"Good girl" I caressed her head, "Now mommy needs to check the dumplings, let me see if they are ready to eat.

"Mommy do continue the story, I want to hear more." she said as I placed her on the kitchen counter.

"Sure my princess!" I smiled before I headed to see the dumplings.