Dong Dong Dong Chang!

Dong Dong Dong Chang! Dong Dong Dong Chang! Woof! Woof! Thus enter the year of the Dog in the Chinese Calendar. This year, it is supposed to be the Fire Dog, so people are expecting it to be a “hot” year (interpret it however you want).

For me, Chinese New Year is more of a family gathering time. It’s a special time to catch up with the immediate family, cousins, aunties, uncles, nieces and nephews (yes, the next generation has begun). It usually starts of with a humongous dinner. Many families have different traditions, some gather just with the immediate family, others go solo, some travels overseas to avoid the crowd. For my family, the gathering goes by rotation of my dad and uncles’ houses. This year, it was with one of the junior uncle’s houses in Kuching, and like usual, via a pot luck or pot bless method on the eve of the New Year. Firecrackers and fireworks are banned this year, but even as early as 11:30pm, it started almost non stop until close to 12:30pm.

What’s to be expected then? New clothes, cakes, biscuits, and angpows, amongst others, as a wish for good fortune for the new year. Oranges are a plenty, symbolizing “gold” via a direct translation of “kam” (I think). Red is a popular colour, very “ong”… or lucky.

Fishes symbolizes prosperity? Or longevity? (I forgot), but is very popular amongst the Chinese. Some fishes with the “horns” are considered auspicious for some reason or another (nope, I admit that I haven’t done enough research for it to know the various reasons). But generally, one could find pictures of nine gold fishes or carps swimming around in various paintings.

Went to Kuching visiting during the first day of the new year. Traditionally, all the uncles and aunties, and cousins, would visit my grand aunty’s house in the morning. We would eat a hearty meal there, and one of the more popular dishes which my grand aunty makes is the “drunken chicken”. A cold chicken dish, soaked in alcohol. Very, very yummy! I had more than my fair share!

After that, went around visiting my uncles’ houses, nibbling food here and there. Visited at least four uncles’, one aunty’s, and one cousin’s house. At least two of the houses were new to me, as they were recently built / renovated and opened for visitation. Towards the evening, we even plucked and ate rambutans direct from the tree from one of the uncle’s house. It was a very hot day though. Although there were some dark clouds on occasions, hinting at possible rain, the day remained hot and sunny, and very humid.

So what’s the year of the Dog without a picture of a dog? The doggy’s name is Yuki (I think). Yuki belongs to my aunty who has at least 3 “indoor” dogs, and 2 “outdoor” dogs. The outdoor dogs were huge and very “garang”. Just getting close to one of the outdoor dogs only, and will be barked at like mad. Luckily, the outdoor dogs were caged up when we were there. The indoor dogs were very mild mannered.

Tomorrow will be the second day of Chinese New Year. As it usually goes, my various uncles and aunties will come to Serian to visit my family. My dad is the third brother, and the eldest of the family (on the male side) in Sarawak. Think my mum will be preparing lots of food for tomorrow. I heard that even my grandaunty will be traveling “up” to my hometown early in the morning. Yep, Serian is located about 60 plus km away from Kuching, and is actually located higher up geographically. I can hear some fire crackers, as well as some fire works. I guess it will get “noiser” later, to further welcome the new year.