Chinese New Year has always been special to me. I am glad that I can participate too in the joyous occasion with families and friends in Kuching. And I wish I could go back to those moment. Well, I wish I was there right now.
What I enjoyed most was the ang pow collection from my own grandmother, grandaunties, uncles and aunties. Although the amount was meagre compared to what youngsters get today, it still made a young boy happy.
As with the Hari Raya Puasa celebration, the week prior to the week long holiday for the Chinese New Year would be a lighter affair. Everybody, including the teachers are really not in the mood to teach anymore. But, as always, the light and easy affair would be compensated with pages and pages of homeworks, especially the mathematics and english and bahasa Malaysia composition that needs to be handed in after the holiday. Everybody would be talking about buying new pairs of shoes, new clothings, new pants, how much the ang pow increment that one expects to receive this year, and the list goes on and on.
There are a few things that I remember in my younger days about the Chinese New Year celebration. We would go to the shops at Gambier Street, Carpenter Street and the lanes behind the Tua Pek Kong to get the goodies for new year. Quail eggs, fungus, mushrooms from China, the halal dried beef from China (yes, there is such thing as halal at that time), Pak Choy, leeks, cabbages and of course the oranges, among others. All these ingredient are needed in preparation for the auspicious round table new year eve dinner.
Since our family are muslims, and my Grandma and uncles and aunties are of the Christian dominations, thus, the cooking were mainly left to us. Even if Grandma had to cook, she would use the cooking utensils in our house.
I just love the mixed vege with quail eggs, in which, I would "attack" the quail eggs first. Usually, knowing that, plus sist too likes the quail eggs, mom would put more inside.
Another was the stir fried prawns with cashew nuts. I do not favour the cashew nuts, so, most of the time, it will be left for others to eat.
The fish maw with chicken soup was the best. I just love to sink my teeth into the juicy and succulent texture of the swollen fish maw. The sensation of the squirt of the tasty soup from the fish maw in my mouth was orgasmic heavenly. LOL. I would be amazed with the size that the fish maw would grow into once it is left inside the soup for quite some time. It was later that I learned that, to get such expanded fish maw, it needs to be dried thoroughly. It answers my curiosity of the "dried fish" that is left in one end of the clothing lines for most of the year, until CNY came.
The day before and on new year's eve, we would be busy too. Mom and dad would take leave to clean the house and prepare the ingredients for the round table dinner. The pineapple jam tart would feature in every CNY. Thus, the whole kitchen would smell sweetly of baked tarts. I used to remember too, the crispy fish ball grandma used to make. She would debone the ikan tenggiri in the morning. By afternoon, she would be rolling balls to be fried. Irresistable.
After the round table dinner, my sist and me would be unpacking and separating the firecrackers and place it in a basin. When all are done, we would join the other neighbourhod children playing firecrackers, firing rockets, fireworks till smokes filled up our lungs. There was once, a rocket went astray and it went to the backyard of the neighbours opposite ours. Like cowards, we would rush back into our house before returning again to burn more fireworks, acting like nothing has happened. We would normally get our "ammunition" from Kenyalang Park.
The main event was to wait for the midnight when the air will be saturated with smokes from the burning of the firecrackers and airbombs. The sky would be colourful and the surrounding deafening. The floor would be littered with red, remnants from the firecrackers burnt the night before.
In the morning, we would all gather. With other cousins, we would get the much sought after ang pows first. Luckily there is no traditional kneeling and bowing before the elders as what dad and his siblings had to endure in the olden days, before receiving their ang pows. Although being the fourth generation, the respect or the elders should not diminish, albeit doing it in different styles and faiths.
The trips to the houses of family members would commence on the second or third day. The angpow collection activity is thus extended to fatten our piggy banks. More importantly, such moments were used to get to now the other members of the family, of whom we seldom meet. As one family member pointed out at a funeral of one of the grandaunties, we would only gather around during new year and during funerals and then, would only notice how aged and fatter we have grown over the years. A soft reminder on how little time we have in this world.
There is a house along Green Road, opposite Poh Kong Park, where every year, the owner never fails to change the animal statue according to the animal year of the new year. I am sure, he would be putting out the tiger this year.
That's for the sudden flooding of memories, after seeing the advertisement by Petronas.
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