New Year’s Eve dinner: the farewell of the old year, the start of the new.

New Year's Eve dinner is one of the most meaningful meals for me. It is on the last day of Chinese lunar calendar-the Spring Festival. As for me, New Year’s Eve dinner is a wonderful opportunity to connect me with my ancestors, my family and the coming year. Nowadays, Chinese people usually have New Year’s Eve dinner at restaurants instead of cooking food in our own houses. I guess that numerous Chinese people prefer eating outside because of convenience, and also, restaurants will always provide a big meal and a graceful environment. However, I still like to have the New Year’s Eve dinner at home, which is more festive and jubilant. Cooking meals at home has more conventional meanings than eating in a restaurant, while eating outside is no more than a family gathering.

I was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. In my hometown, we will eat many local characteristic cuisines and snacks during Chinese traditional New Year’s Eve dinner, such as “stewed pork with brown sauce”, “steamed fish”, “New Year cakes” and other delicious dishes. New Year cakes are made of glutinous rice flour. In Chinese, it is "annual high" homophonic, meaning the annual advancement of work and study. Also, we eat “Stewed pork with brown sauce” mainly because of its color-red. In Chinese culture, red symbolizes thriving, bringing people with fortune and positive things. “Steamed fish” has cultural significance as well. Because “fish” is “surplus” homophonic, eating steamed fish” indicates that we are going to have surplus in the coming year. After enjoying these main courses, we will eat some snacks like peanut and sugarcane. As my mother said, peanut symbolizes living longer while sugarcane represents constant advancement. So it is not difficult to find that most cuisines in the New Year’s Eve dinner have positive meanings, bringing us with good and beautiful wishes. Moreover, New Year’s Eve dinner is like a big farewell to the old year and a happy start of the new.

The most importantly of all, several empty plates and chopsticks should be placed on the dining table for our ancestors when we are eating, showing our respect and miss to them. It is always the most indispensable part of New Year’s Eve dinner. When I see these empty plates, the person that I miss a lot is my grandmother’s mother, who stood by me and took care of me when I was very young. My grandmother’s mother believed in Buddhism, which discourages people to kill and eat the livestock, so she seldom ate meat during New Year’s Eve dinner. Rarely will I eat the meat of chicken in that my Chinese zodiac is chicken; eating chicken seems like eating my fellows. Speaking of Chinese zodiac, there are twelve zodiacs: mouse, cattle, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig. The year of your birth decides your zodiac, which is similar to the star sign.

Before I came to America, the spring festival and the New Year’s Eve dinner were all about my family, gathering with my family members, eating together and chatting together. Friends, however, become an increasingly more indispensable part of the spring festival now, especially when I am studying abroad. Accompanying with friends and cooking Chinese food by ourselves are the most exciting things on the spring festival. I feel like the New Year’s Eve dinner not only creates the relation between my family and me, but also creates the connection between my friends and me.

Last New Year’s Eve dinner, I was in America and could not celebrate the spring festival with my family at home. It did not make me feel regret and upset at all in that my friends and I gathered together, making a big New Year’s Eve dinner by ourselves. It was great to eat food cook by ourselves. On the spring festival, we got up early in the morning and bought a lot of food in the Asian food supermarket. After finishing the intricate procedure of preparation (wash and cut vegetables, unfreeze chicken wings, cut pork ribs, mix and stuff for the dumplings), we started to cooking Chinese food in the dorm. We will always eat dumplings in the spring festival. The reasons why dumplings are important are various; in general, they will bring us with fortune. We cut the meat and the cabbage into minces, filling the dumplings with them and then boiled a few minutes. I find boiled dumplings are far more delicious than instant dumplings. Also, “Winter melon and rib soup” is one of my favorite. We first boiled off the blood of the ribs; then, put the ribs and the slices of the winter melon into the boiling water and stewed for around half an hour. In addition to these main courses, we prepared many small dishes and snacks. The round-shape dumpling is our traditional snack in New Year’s Eve dinner, stuffed with bean paste and sesame paste. The round shape of it is a symbol of wholeness and family reunion. During the whole dinner, our dorm was filled with happiness and the strong atmosphere of the spring festival.

We Chinese not only have the New Year’s Eve dinner on the spring festival, but also watch the CCTV Spring Festival Evening Show. In China, the whole family will sit together in front of the TV, watching the interesting show, chatting and waiting for 12 o’clock. Although we have time difference to China, my friends and I got up early to watch the show together. It was quite a different new year.

Instead of the delicious food themselves, it is the warm atmosphere of the New Year’s Eve dinner makes me happy. I cherish the chance to reunite with all the family members and close friends, sharing our love and happiness. The dinner is full of nice wishes due to the numerous meanings of the food. Further, the most crucial significance of this dinner is to say goodbye to the old year, welcoming the hopeful and promising year.

                                            round-shape dumpling
      

                                           stewed pork with brown sauce