Five Moments I Missed the Most on Chinese New Year's Eve

In Chinese culture, New Year’s Eve is the most important day during Chinese New Year (a 16-day festival, if you count Chinese New Year’s Eve celebrations). How so? Those five things, a mixture of traditional and personal moments, made this day so special to me as a child and are still so vivid, living inside me now.

Egg dumplings

In the morning, I liked going to my maternal grandparent’s home first to watch my grandpa make egg dumplings. They have a special meaning in our region during this festival. They symbolise gold ingots, representing wealth. The whole setup was simple and easy. A charcoal stove was on the table, and on top of that, there was a long iron spoon. My grandpa would stand there, putting a piece of pork fat in the spoon and using chopsticks to squeeze it so he could get some oil into the spoon. Then, he would pour some egg liquid into the spoon and move around a bit so the liquid could fill up the whole surface evenly. After a short while, a layer of dumpling skin appeared. He then added some pork fillings in the middle and used the chopsticks to fold two sides together. Done! I liked to feel the warmth around the stove because it was wintertime. Hearing egg bubbling made me focus on now, too, feeling time had slowed down just for both of us.

Two dinners on the same night

At around 5pm, the reunion dinner would first be served at my paternal grandparents’ house. My maternal grandparents’ dinner usually began later. How did I know? Because they live so close to each other, 1 minute’s walk. That means I could have two feasts on the same night, and they had different signature dishes, too. Lucky me! Whenever I told my classmates this fun fact at school, all of them would feel so jealous because none of them had that treat.

Firecrackers and fireworks

After dinner, it came to another exciting moment. My cousins and I would start to set off firecrackers and fireworks. Since we were all the only child, we were like brothers and sisters to one another. Lighting up the fuse was always scary to me, as some strings were super short. But knowing my cousins were around always gave me so much courage and comfort. The noise was meant to scare off the evil spirits. But for me, they had different beauty. The big bang of the firecrackers sounded so festival while for fireworks, I loved seeing the unknown beauty unfold behind their packages.

Card games

This day was also the only day that I could see all my cousins together. Of course, I needed to make the most of the day. Besides talking to them, I would beg them to play card games with me. But they are all older than me, and some are even 8 or 9 years older, so they were not that keen. However, most of the time, they would give in after my constant nagging. Sorry, my cousins. Maybe I was charmed by card games back then.

Watching CCTV New Year’s Gala together

It used to be a ritual for most Chinese families because back then, that TV program was the only variety show (often featuring music, dance, comedy, and drama performances) we could watch during that time (from 8pm-12.30am). As an artsy girl, I was excited to watch some of my favourite stars performing there. Besides, watching the show together added another layer of fun. Laughing and exchanging our feelings and reviews in the same space, I felt a sense of unitedness and connectedness.

Writing this article made me savour my childhood joys again and realise how much I miss the festival. But I think what I miss the most is always the people and the pure childhood joy.