Time and tide wait for no man. 60 years ago in my kampung, CNY was filled with lots of fun, joy and happiness. A month before the Big Day, a few neighbours would get together to make kuih kapit, kuih bangkit, kuih loyang and kuih bakul (Nian Gao). This kuih making marathon would last from morning to night for a few days. There is so much fun and joy, despite the hard work.
I remembered one particular taboo when making Nian Gao, no pregnant woman was allowed to witness or take part in the process. The rest gathered must zip their mouths, and can't simply utter any nonsense, then only the Nian Gao will turn out nice and shiny.
During spring cleaning, we made our makeshift broom out of bamboo leaves, tied into a bundle at the end of a long pole. We use this bamboo broom to sweep away cobwebs hanging on the ceilings and walls. Then, we hang up calendars of popular actresses during those days, like Lin Dai, Kerk Lan, Loh Ti and many more. Calendars were given by sundry shops.
Our neighbours, some Malay and Indian kids will join us for our nightly canon firing. We made cannons out of old discarded pipes, drilled a hole and add carbide, sprinkled some water and lit our canon "Boom! Boom! Kaboom!", the louder the sound, the higher and greater our ecstasy. Another innovative way to firecrackers was to light the cracker and then cover it with an empty condensed milk tin. The tin will shoot up high as the firecracker explodes.
While writing this nostalgic piece on CNY, like time travel, my whole soul got spirited away to my childhood days and my old heart races and rejoices in the festive, joyful atmosphere of CNY. Wishing all of you Gong Xi Fa Cai! Huat Ah!
Submitted on behalf of my beloved mother, Madam Eu Moi Koy.
Submit any #CNY2023 related content and stand a chance to win cash prizes up to RM10,000! Find out how you can participate here.
Chung Ren Ng (MY) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
