Gong Xi Fa Cai! 2007 Part 2 : The legend continues....

And it’s back to work again for most of us after the long auspicious week of resting (for some), or frenzied visiting (for others). Notably, it’s the 9th day of the CNY today, which incidentally is actually the first day of CNY for the Hokkiens. For those who are not familiar, according to verbal legends, long long time ago in China, there was an ethnic cleansing activity done on the Hokkiens (maybe due to some “kongsi gelap” or triad fight). The Hokkiens seek refuge in their sugar cane farm but their enemies were persistant with their searched and destroy agenda and proceeded to burn down the farm. The Hokkiens prayed hard to the Jade Emperor (one of the Chinese Deities) and miraculously, the skies begin to pour and dowse the fire and washed away the assassins. Coincidentally, this happened during the midnight of the 8th Day of the Lunar New Year, when the Hokkiens came out of hiding, unhurt and safe from being wiped out. Since then, the Hokkiens celebrated their Chinese New Year on the midnight of the 8th day of the CNY by giving thanks and praise to Tin Kung (God of the Sky) for having mercy on them on that fateful night and preserving the existence of their clan. It is also noted that it usually rains on the 9th day of CNY. Like it did just now during the Lion dance performance in my company.

While we're on the subject, I have another story to tell regarding the lion dance. How did the lion dance came about? Well, according to Chinese legends (again!), The Year (Nien) is a fearful monster which terrorized humankind once every 12 months, at the beginning of the Lunar Year. There were no Superman or Ultraman then to battle the stealthy Nien so people live in fear of the Nien for many years, each time spring arrive. One day, a monk from the mountains (Not sure if he’s from Shaolin Temple though but legend has it that he has a big head and a big fan) tamed a Lion and converted the Lion into a vegetarian. Together with his vegetarian lion (which explains why Lion dances usually come with that Green Vegetable as a reward for the lion), they found that loud noises and the red colour will scare the Nien Monster away. And with that discovery, the Chinese were free from The Year Monster. From then onwards, the Chinese celebrated this overcoming of fear as Chinese New Year, which incidentally is also called “Kuo Nien” ( which literally means “overcoming the monster, Nien”). Each year during spring, they will make lots of noise via fireworks and lion dances (lead by a monk with a big fan called Tai Tao Fatt in Cantonese) and put up lots of red decorations and give red packets to each other as blessings and protection from the Nien Monster.

That’s my story for this Chinese New Year which I hope will somehow bring forth some insights to the rich Chinese culture that has been brought down many generations since thousands of years. There are many more myths and legends that come with the Chinese New Year (like the deity Nuwa making humans from clay on the 7th day of the lunar calendar and thus making it everyone’s birthday every 7th day of the CNY). All these makes the celebrating of the coming of the lunar year so much more meaningful and exciting. I view myself as almost at the end of the Chinese generations in my family to observe the Chinese traditional practices/prayers (yes, I guess I shame my ancestors as I don’t know how to set up the altar etc …with the excuse of westernization and modernization *blush*). As such, I only hope that in my writings, I can at least carry on some of the Chinese Legends and Cultures for my future generations.