Happy Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year (also called Chinese New Year by many)
The new Lunar New Year has arrived — it’s the Year of the Snake — and I’m celebrating. There are a few reasons why I enjoy it — for a start, there are large Chinese and Vietmanese communities here in Melbourne, and their celebrations are spectacular and fun.
I also have great memories of previous new lunar year celebrations. When I was a student, a group of us used to meet for lunch around the end of January. Several of us were celebrating out January and early February birthdays, and as well, we were getting to the end of the long summer holidays.
We used to meet in the city — our school picked students from all over Melbourne, so very few of us lived in the same area, and having not seen each other for weeks, it was nice to catch up. We ate at a variety of restaurants, but our favorite was to have Yum Cha in Chinatown, in the heart of the city.
Do you know Yum Cha? It’s a meal where waiters come around with a trolley containing all kinds of small dishes sitting in bamboo steamers — various kinds of delicious little dumplings (dim sum) filled with meat, fish or vegetables and steamed or fried, barbecue pork served in various ways, spring rolls, a range of chicken dishes, steamed buns, stuffed tofu, wonton soup, little Chinese custard tarts — the variety seems endless.
We pick whatever appeals at the time, and the waiter places the dishes on our table, notes what we took on our bill, and moves on. Then the next waiter comes past with more and different offerings. The next waiter comes along, and the next, and so it goes. We wash it all down with jasmine tea, and eventually we are utterly replete. It is said that eating dumplings at New Year will bring luck and money. I don’t know about that, but we were happy to try.
Several times over the years, when we were having Yum Cha in Chinatown and the Chinese Lion Dance (and once, I think the Chinese Dragon) came upstairs into the restaurant and danced around the tables, while in the street outside, crackers kept going off. It was fabulous and really added some excitement —not to mention an auspicious flavor to the event.
Later, when Mum and Dad lived in Penang (Malaysia) Chinese New Year was also celebrated with gusto — and dumplings and fireworks and many good wishes.
But my most recent reason to celebrate the Lunar New Year was buying my house, which I did on Lunar New Year’s Day three years ago. That has turned out to be very lucky for me, and I’m very happy here. I have a Chinese good luck symbol hanging off my front door, as well as several around the house.
As for this year, the year of the Wood Snake, 2025 is a time for wisdom, patience, and careful decision-making, which I think is timely advice for us all.
Are there any Lunar New Year celebrations near you? And do you know which Chinese Zodiac animal you are? You can find out here.
