Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy lunar new year!!! Lunar New Year is celebrated by billions of people across the world on the first new moon of their calendar, and it means so many things to many people.

My view on it is that it is about family, friends, reunions, connecting, knowing where you come from, paying respect to the generations before you, and blessing the generations after you.

Growing up in New Zealand has meant that it has never quite been the same experience as it is back in my other home country, where we would be visiting family and all the extended relatives, celebrating, with all the special new year foods, new year clothes and colours, decorations in homes and outside, lights, sounds, festivities.

In New Zealand, it’s been a very simple affair for me personally. We don’t have the same public holidays and time off to go visiting & to spend time with relatives and friends. And plus, it’s not really the same if you don’t have relatives in the same country.

As a child growing up here, my parents didn’t decorate our home or hand make special new year biscuits, but they and their friends would always host a big dinner party to get together, spend time reconnecting and celebrating the new year.

I didn’t really do much as an adult either, apart from reunion meals - you get busy with work and life in a non-Asian country and subconsciously assimilate in many ways. This sometimes means feeling like you lose touch with your identity and traditions, and get lazy as it takes a lot more effort, time and money to try to make it truly significant and festive, especially if you have no other relatives or festive buzz around you.

I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to return to my home country for the lunar new years in 2023 and in 2020 pre-COVID, so have been able to recently experience it in Asia and see family and friends.

This year, I’m really missing everyone and everything, and trying to figure out how to get more of the Lunar New Year back into life, and to find ways to provide myself and my children some kind of experience to set this special time apart from the rest of the year. It is a 15 day celebration too!