In about two weeks my Chinese friends will be celebrating their lunar new year. As always this a period of nostalgia for me as I recall happy memories of celebrating the festival with my friends in the small town of Muar that I grew up in. Though we were Tamils and Hinduism was the faith we practiced, my mother was influenced by Chinese neighbors who practiced Taoism during her childhood. Mother was born and spent her early years in Singapore. Her parents took her to Hindu temples and allowed her neighbors to take her to Taoist temples to pray. Mother had a good command of Cantonese and Teochew. After marrying my father and setting up home in Muar she continued to practice both the Hindu and Taoist faiths and as children my sister and I followed her to the places of worship of both religions. So from the religious point of view, the Lunar New Year was an important time in our childhood home as mother said special prayers to welcome the auspicious day. Joss sticks would be lit and Chinese Joss paper burnt. As a non-Chinese, she was also a novelty in Taoist temples in Muar and was a special friend to the priests in these houses of worship.
My childhood home was surrounded by Chinese neighbors. For about two weeks before the New Year, the celebratory mood would gradually build up in the neighborhood. The mood was very infectious and as children my sister and I were soon caught up in it. Several of our Chinese neighbors were Peranakan (Straits Chinese) who were experts in making their traditional desserts. When comes to the Chinese New Year period, the smell of Kuih Lapis, Kuih Kapit, Kuih Bangkit and Pineapple tarts being baked in the neighbors’ homes would waft into my house tickling my olfactory nerves, causing my salivary glands and gastric juices to go into overdrive. My favorite was the Kuih Kapit “Love Letters” and we had two Peranakan “Aunties” who would each gift us with two tins filled to the brim with these crispy sweet biscuits and my greedy heart would soar with joy! Besides the desserts, the other Chinese New Year special I loved was the Mandarin Oranges – I could easily polish off three fruits at a single sitting but unfortunately as I grew into my forties I had to control my greed as these fruits triggered off my bronchial asthma attacks.
The way I celebrated Chinese New Year changed with the passage of the years. As a child, I would hardly be able to sleep on the eve of the New Year. Part of this was due to the excitement of the activities that awaited me the following day and the other, the noise of the fire crackers being set off by our neighbors. The following morning all the roads in our little town would be a carpet of red from these crackers. As children my sister and I would accompany our parents to visit their Chinese friends. One particular house that we looked forward to visiting was Mr. Goh Hang Kee’s. Mr Goh was my father’s business partner and his family would welcome us enthusiastically. I still remember Mr Goh’s mother, though she has passed on more than five decades ago. She was in her late eighties when I was a young boy; originally from China, she had the bound feet of women of her genre – her feet always fascinated me, and as I grew older and read about this cruel tradition, I shuddered at the thought of the pain she must have endured in her early life. She would totter in her tiny feet excitedly to embrace us children the moment we entered her home. Mr. Hang Kee was also generous with the Ang Pow he gifted my sister and me. The other great thing about the visit was the plentiful amount of longan fruit that allowed us to eat.
Another fond memory of Chinese New Year during my childhood, was peeping into my immediate neighbor’s home on the evening of the festival. This neighbor had several children who were in their late teens and early twenties and they would organize a dance party for their friends. Standing on my tip toes my eyes would be agog with excitement and wonder as I saw these boys and girls swing to the tunes of the day and occasionally when some of them kissed, my heart would beat so fast that I felt it would leap out of my chest!
The Dragon troupes that came to perform at the neighborhood shops during the Lunar New Year period was another source of excitement for us children. The thunderous drum beats that accompanied the dance would reverberate off our bodies. We would be fascinated by the gymnastic expertise of the dancers as they brought the dancing lion to life with their movements. Their expertise improved with the passage of the years and before I left my hometown to go study in Johor Bahru, the dancers had honed their skills to be able to leap from one tall pole to another when performing their heart stopping routines. Years later I was to read with pride about Muar’s home grown Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association who were world champions in their art.
Once I was in my teens, I no longer accompanied my parents but would cycle with a group of my classmates to visit our Chinese friends – we were then into more adult treats – chewing groundnuts and washing this down with cold beer. One New Year visit evokes embarrassing memories to this day – we had gone to visit one of our favorite teachers, Mrs. Maria Thong. As we sat and talked animatedly, I accidentally knocked over my glass of drink causing it to fall to the ground and shatter into pieces. I was overcome with remorse as my mother had repeatedly warned us that to break anything on New Year ’s Day was a bad omen. However, Mrs. Thong and her family treated the debacle nonchalantly, swept up the broken glass and continued as though nothing had happened. I got an earful from my mother when I returned home and related the events to her. I was grateful that nothing bad happened to Mrs. Thong subsequently that year.
Another memory from this stage of my life was the Chap Goh Meh party organized by some of my classmates in 1968 when we were in form five. Though I was not invited, I was privy to the excitement of those who were going to attend. For the first time, several of them were going to meet girls and dance and talk. The day after the party several of my classmates had fallen in love for the first time in their lives – there were many dreamy eyes for weeks after that and then some sad faces a few months later as some of the relationships failed. If I remember correctly two of my classmates walked down the aisles several years later with the ladies that they had met that Chap Goh Mei.
The celebrations were taken a notch higher when I entered medical school. My friends and I would ride our motorbikes to our classmate Vincent Chong’s (now senior professor of radiology in Singapore) house and eat to our heart’s content (Vincent and his late father were very generous) and gulp down several glasses of beer each. We would be very drunk by the time we weaved our way on our motorbikes back to the student’s hostel in the University. Looking back, it is only Providence that protected us from our follies at that stage of our lives.
These days with our children having flown the coop, my wife and I celebrate Chinese New year quietly at home munching on my favorite Kuih Kapit gifted by my patients and friends and if my mood suits me and I am not on call, will drink a single glass of cold beer as I send out greetings by WhatsApp to our friends. Time has passed by quickly but happy memories of the Chinese New Year celebrations of yesteryears still remain vivid in my mind!
I wish all my Chinese Friends “Gong Xi Fa Cai!!”
Dr Kannan Pasamanickam
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