Chinese New Year celebration (January 28-February 15) with greetings from Sodexo account at Stanford Health Care colleagues

Chinese New Year, also known as spring festival, an important Chinese festival falls on Jan 28 this year and the celebration lasted for 15 days.  This year is the year of Rooster. The festivity however starts on Jan 27 where family will all come together to have "Tuan Yuan fan" ( reunion dinner).  This is a significant event as most people in China work far away from home. This might be the only time of the year where they came home to see their family and had a reunion dinner.

So by now you might wonder what is served in the reunion dinner? Usually dishes symbolizing Chinese phrases will be served such as the following dishes:

1) Fish - it symbolizes a Chinese phrase-" Nian nian you yu " (every year there is fish  which means be blessed every year)

2) Fatt Choy ( black hair like algae)- symbolizes prosperity

3) Yee sang - symbolizes abundance and prosperity. The dish consists of strips of raw fish, julienne of vegetables, pickled, condiments and plum sauce. (It's similar to a poke in America). It is toss by everyone at the table. It is believed that the higher you toss it, the more prosper you will be.

4) Poon choi ( basin cuisine) symbolizes teamwork and unity and equality. The dish usually consists of abalone,pork, fish, chicken, duck, fish maw, dried mushrooms, scallops, prawn and fatt choy

5) Nian Gao (Chinese New Year cake)- The dish symbolises the promise of a better year such as a higher income, position or growth of children.  The dish is usually made from glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, salt, water and sugar)

Ang Pow or Hung-Bao (Red envelope) are also a new year favorite. It is given by married couples to their friends and family during the new year. Red is the favorite color and you will see decorations and clothings in red in household and shopping malls in Asia.  Lion dance and fire crackers are another favorite. 

In celebrating the festivity, I had invited a few of my colleagues in the Sodexo account at Stanford Health Care to present their well wishes in the different Asian dialect (Tagalog, Mandarin and Cantonese). 

Wishing everyone who is celebrating the festivity a Happy Chinese New Year!

Meanings from Kiran Robinson's greetings (In cantonese.):

Happy New Year

Please give me my red packet

I don't want coins 

Please give $5 for my pocket money.
Note: Kiran is teasing us to tell us to be generous. Don't give her coins in the red packet. She want notes.

Pictures of decorations in shopping malls in Asia during the Chinese New Year (Year of the Rooster)

Chinese New Year Dishes

Lou Sang

Nian Gao (Chinese New Year pudding)

Mcdonald Special Beef Prosperity burger for the new year