Jian Ping's column
Holiday celebration
Holiday celebration
By Jian Ping
From Thanksgiving to the New Year, the U.S. is immersed in the spirit of holidays. From family
gatherings, shopping, to partying, the aura of festivity permeates the air. People give gifts or send holiday
greeting cards regardless of their religious backgrounds. At such time of the year, my thoughts always
turns to a Chinese saying which can be translated as “one misses family and relatives most dearly during
holidays.”
As a first generation immigrant, I long for the large family gatherings at home during major holidays. In
China, the largest is the Spring Festival, or better known in English as the Chinese New Year, which marks
the start of the lunar year. In northern China, the traditional New Year food is dumpling. I remember that
except the few most difficult years during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), our family always got
together and made dumplings with Chinese chives and eggs or cabbage with ground pork. Nowadays, with
food and meat being abundant, the stuffing has become more creative — green pepper with beef, celery
with lamb, or shrimp with squash. On New Year’s Eve, we would play cards or mahjong, or watch the live
show featuring the most elaborately organized performance on China Central Television — the program
lasts until midnight when fireworks then light up the sky at the end of the countdown to the New Year. It is
at this moment that the dumplings will be scooped out of the boiling pot and shared among family members.
My mother always saves some New Year’s Eve dumplings, a symbol of family reunion and harmony, for her
From Thanksgiving to the New Year, the U.S. is immersed in the spirit of holidays. From family
gatherings, shopping, to partying, the aura of festivity permeates the air. People give gifts or send holiday
greeting cards regardless of their religious backgrounds. At such time of the year, my thoughts always
turns to a Chinese saying which can be translated as “one misses family and relatives most dearly during
holidays.”
As a first generation immigrant, I long for the large family gatherings at home during major holidays. In
China, the largest is the Spring Festival, or better known in English as the Chinese New Year, which marks
the start of the lunar year. In northern China, the traditional New Year food is dumpling. I remember that
except the few most difficult years during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), our family always got
together and made dumplings with Chinese chives and eggs or cabbage with ground pork. Nowadays, with
food and meat being abundant, the stuffing has become more creative — green pepper with beef, celery
with lamb, or shrimp with squash. On New Year’s Eve, we would play cards or mahjong, or watch the live
show featuring the most elaborately organized performance on China Central Television — the program
lasts until midnight when fireworks then light up the sky at the end of the countdown to the New Year. It is
at this moment that the dumplings will be scooped out of the boiling pot and shared among family members.
My mother always saves some New Year’s Eve dumplings, a symbol of family reunion and harmony, for her
married daughters who usually come home on the second day of the Lunar Year.
Many of us immigrants in the U.S., however, do not have the luxury of extended family gatherings.
Chinese New Year, if celebrated at all, becomes a symbolic nuclear family meal in a Chinese
restaurant, or at best, joined by some Chinese or American friends. In large cities such as New York,
San Francisco, and Chicago, there is a New Year parade in Chinatown. But the parade is usually held
during the weekend either before or after the Chinese New Year, to allow more people to participate in
the celebration. I have been to the Chicago Chinatown Chinese New Year parade several times over
the last few years. If the weather cooperates — no whipping bitterly cold wind or blowing snow — the
crowd could reach 20,000. Quite spectacular for a winter event in the windy city. Of course, it cannot
be compared to the scale of celebration in China where the entire country shuts down for a week-long
holiday.
In the U.S., December is the most festive season. I still remember how I marveled at all the lights
in the streets the first time I visited Chicago. That was 1986 — my first Thanksgiving and Christmas in
the U.S. My professor and his wife drove all the way from Ohio to Chicago for the holidays, taking
along their teen-age son and me, a poor graduate student far from home at that time. Their old Cadillac
cranked and puffed, but managed to get us there. We stopped at Marshall Fields on State Street and for
the first time in my life, I saw mechanical figures in the window displays and ran from one to another
excitedly, like a child. It was also the first time I heard the Salvation Army bell and placed the few
quarters in my pocket into the red bucket, after my professor explained to me what it was for.
Nearly 25 years have passed since that visit and I have now lived in Chicago for 15 years. But
each year, I still marvel at the spectacular lights on the city streets and the generosity many people
demonstrate by giving to the needy in this season.
We are now in the middle of December again. The lights are as sparkling and spectacular as
always, and Chicago, like most other places in the U.S., is enveloped in the spirit of the holidays
again. I would like to take this opportunity to advocate that we rejoice in the holiday season by
focusing on families and friends—getting together and sharing our love and support. Giving gifts as
tokens of care and love is good. However, we should not be swept away by the commercials and the
promotion of consumption. Family gatherings — the sweet moment of being close and together —
should be the spirit of the holiday season.
Many of us immigrants in the U.S., however, do not have the luxury of extended family gatherings.
Chinese New Year, if celebrated at all, becomes a symbolic nuclear family meal in a Chinese
restaurant, or at best, joined by some Chinese or American friends. In large cities such as New York,
San Francisco, and Chicago, there is a New Year parade in Chinatown. But the parade is usually held
during the weekend either before or after the Chinese New Year, to allow more people to participate in
the celebration. I have been to the Chicago Chinatown Chinese New Year parade several times over
the last few years. If the weather cooperates — no whipping bitterly cold wind or blowing snow — the
crowd could reach 20,000. Quite spectacular for a winter event in the windy city. Of course, it cannot
be compared to the scale of celebration in China where the entire country shuts down for a week-long
holiday.
In the U.S., December is the most festive season. I still remember how I marveled at all the lights
in the streets the first time I visited Chicago. That was 1986 — my first Thanksgiving and Christmas in
the U.S. My professor and his wife drove all the way from Ohio to Chicago for the holidays, taking
along their teen-age son and me, a poor graduate student far from home at that time. Their old Cadillac
cranked and puffed, but managed to get us there. We stopped at Marshall Fields on State Street and for
the first time in my life, I saw mechanical figures in the window displays and ran from one to another
excitedly, like a child. It was also the first time I heard the Salvation Army bell and placed the few
quarters in my pocket into the red bucket, after my professor explained to me what it was for.
Nearly 25 years have passed since that visit and I have now lived in Chicago for 15 years. But
each year, I still marvel at the spectacular lights on the city streets and the generosity many people
demonstrate by giving to the needy in this season.
We are now in the middle of December again. The lights are as sparkling and spectacular as
always, and Chicago, like most other places in the U.S., is enveloped in the spirit of the holidays
again. I would like to take this opportunity to advocate that we rejoice in the holiday season by
focusing on families and friends—getting together and sharing our love and support. Giving gifts as
tokens of care and love is good. However, we should not be swept away by the commercials and the
promotion of consumption. Family gatherings — the sweet moment of being close and together —
should be the spirit of the holiday season.
(Above photos) Chinese New Year
celebrations In Wisconsin feature the
Spring Dance in community programs,
as well as the preparation of dumplings
to be shared by family members and
friends.
celebrations In Wisconsin feature the
Spring Dance in community programs,
as well as the preparation of dumplings
to be shared by family members and
friends.