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St. Albert hopping with Year of the Rabbit celebrations

Billions worldwide celebrate Year of the Rabbit
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TABLE'S READY — Patricia Cheung's children, James and Eden Ho, arrange decorations on the family dinner table at their Sturgeon County home Jan. 15 in preparation for Chinese New Year. 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit. KEVIN MA/St. Albert Gazette

It’s hard to miss Patricia Cheung’s home in Sturgeon County this week: it’s festooned with red lanterns, firecrackers, banners and bunnies inside and out, all in preparation for Chinese New Year this weekend.

Cheung is one of the roughly two billion people expected to celebrate the Lunar New Year this Jan. 22. Also called Chinese New Year, this international celebration marks the start of a new year on the Chinese lunisolar calendar and is observed in many nations.

2023 is the Year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese zodiac. Rabbits are associated with peace and prosperity in China, which is a good sign for the coming year, said Chef Kenny Trinh at the Jade Village in St. Albert.

“This year will be a very good year for everybody,” he said.

Cheung said she started preparing for New Year about a week ago, baking sesame seed balls and mochi, and hanging rabbit-shaped decorations on walls and trees. Her dining room table is set with her finest dishes, including lucky cat chopstick holders, in preparation for the feasts to come.

“We’re very traditional, so we will be doing 18 courses on New Year’s Eve,” she said, and a hot-pot dinner on New Year’s Day.

Trinh said he will host a big gathering with his family this New Year, with lobster, crab, and cabbage soup on the menu.

“The kids are very excited.”

Many traditions

Chinese New Year is associated with a long list of traditions. It’s considered good luck to clean your house before New Year to wash away the old year, for example, but bad luck to do so during New Year, as you will sweep your luck away.

“We always cut our hair before New Year’s,” Trinh said, as that cuts away the bad old year, but never during the New Year period, which cuts off good luck.

Cheung said Chinese New Year is a huge 16-day celebration in many Asian nations, with each day associated with a different activity. Day 3 is the day to visit your in-laws, for example, while Day 4 (the Day of the Rat) is an ominous one where it is bad luck to go out.

Many Chinese youths associate New Year celebrations with red packets of money from their parents. These packets symbolize luck and prosperity and should have an even amount of cash in them for maximum luck, reports author Tan Huay Peng. While typically given to children, Trinh said parents sometimes give these packets to single adults to tell them to hurry up and get married.

The New Year’s Eve dinner is when the whole family gets together to demonstrate their love, Peng writes. The menu often features foods with names which, in Chinese, reference wealth or longevity, such as fish (yu, which sounds like “excess”) and black, hair-like sea moss (fa cai, which sounds like “to prosper”).

Whatever you serve, it is important to serve lots of it, Cheung emphasized.

“You must have more than enough,” she said, as you want plenty of leftovers — a sign you had so much wealth last year it spilled over into the next.

New Year celebrations wrap up with the Lantern Festival (which this year is Feb. 5), and often features extravagant dragon dances.

Cheung said non-Asians can celebrate Chinese New Year by visiting friends, trying out traditional sweets now on sale at Chinese stores, and learning more about Chinese culture. She and her family plan to watch some of the bigger celebrations in Asia online.


Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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