A few days ago, it was Chinese/Lunar New Year! As I have been living in China for 18 years, this is one of the most important holidays I look forward to in the year. Back in China, weeks before the celebration, my family and I would visit (or at least make some video calls to) relatives, shop a bunch of stuff online (it’s the discount season!!) or in person, and hang all kinds of red decorations in the room to make it festive. On New Year’s Eve, we would have a feast, usually consisting of dumplings, fish (年年有余, which means to have excess in the coming year), and many more tasty dishes. At 8 pm, we would all sit around the TV to watch the Spring Festival gala, see the beautiful fireworks lighting up the sky, chat about the past year, and look forward to the coming year.
However, here at Amherst, I have no relatives to stay with and no dumplings at Val… Instead of feeling lonely and gloomy, I decided to initiate a celebration on my own! As I was still on the bus returning to Amherst last Saturday, I began listing out some potential dishes to make and inviting my friends to join.
I had never cooked for 20 people before, so I was worried if I could handle it. But, it turned out really fun to figure things out with friends, like where to buy all the ingredients and how to season the food. Some of us even gathered the night before the celebration to make dumplings together. The dumpling wrappings were very stiff, but we finished two pounds of dumplings in two hours. I’d say it was a huge achievement. (A good start to the year!)
On the day of the celebration, right after class, my friends and I carried bags of ingredients from the first-year quad to Newport (the Spanish Theme Community, which has a fancy kitchen in the basement). We started preparing around 4: some washed and chopped the vegetables into bite sizes, some cooked fried rice with eggs, one (me) tried very hard to get the right amount of saltiness for zucchini pancakes, and one documented these wonderful moments using his camera… It was busy and fun in the kitchen. We made some “mistakes”, but we all found ways to navigate around.
I was so relieved to see a table full of food at the end: steamed fish, crispy zucchini pancakes, sweet and icy sago soup, boiling hot pot, dumplings, and many more… We sat around the table and wished each other a Happy New Year. I could not remember what we talked about that day, but I recalled laughing really hard with friends and having good food as the Spring Festival gala played in the background.
“难忘今宵，无论天涯与海角，神州万里同怀抱…” (Translation: Tonight is unforgettable. It does not matter if you are in the farthest corner of the land or sea. We are in the same arms of our vast culture.) We were singing this song all the way back to our dorms. When I was a child, I could not understand what it meant to be in the same arms if we were far apart. But now, studying abroad, I could finally resonate with it. Although I am far away from my family and motherland, I am still tied to the culture and the people, and I would be proud and delighted to celebrate this identity.
Thank you to everyone who made the celebration possible and merry! 祝新春快乐，蛇年大吉！Happy New Year!
[Pics Credit to: Tetsuya Tanaka]