a chinese tradition

"kiong hi su suk! kiong hi suk me! kiong hi a pak! kiong hi ku ku!"

"kiong hi fat choi!" 

greetings which is a MUST during chinese new year to wish a prosperous year ahead.

i grow up in a family with a thick chinese culture and tradition (take out the chinese praying part- all of us are christian by default), and so we do celebrate chinese new year. in chinese (or in my case, hakka), you have different way to address your family depending on whether they are a she or he, older or younger, and from your mom's side or dad's side.

not sure whether these are hakka or traditional chinese style, but i'll list out a few:

from mom's side:

mom's younger sister: ie ie 

mom's younger sister's husband: ie chong 

mom's older sister : a ie 

mom's older sister's husband: ...

mom's younger brother: khiu khiu

mom's younger brother's wife: khiu mei 

mom's older brother:...

mom's older brother's wife: ...

mom's mom (your grandma): a ma 

mom's mom younger sister: ...

mom's mom older sister: ...

mom's mom younger brother: khiu kung

mom's mom younger brother's wife: khiu po

mom's mom older brother: ...

mom's dad (your grandpa): a kong 

mom's dad younger sister: ...

mom's dad older sister: ...

mom's dad younger brother: ...

mom's dad older brother: ...

from dad's side:

dad's younger sister: ku ku

dad's younger sister's husband: ku chong

dad's older sister: ...

dad's older sister husband:

dad's younger brother: suk suk

dad's younger brother's wife: suk mei

dad's older brother: ah pak

dad's older brother's wife: pak mei

dad's mom (your grandma) : po po

dad's mom younger sister: ie po

dad's mom younger sister's husband: ie kung

dad's mom older sister: a po

dad's mom older sister's husband: ...

dad's dad (your grandpa) : kung kung

dad's dad younger brother: suk kung

dad's dad younger brother's wife: suk po

dad's dad older brother: ...

dad's dad older brother's wife: ...

those are essentials, and take note that it's exclusive of extensive family members (i'm not sure for few of them, so i leave it blank), and only applicable to my generation (the child generation). it would be different to address relatives for parents generation and grand parents generations, for example: you called your brother (older than your husband) in law's wife as "so so" (only applicable to in laws), and many more!

now, don't you feel lucky to address your relatives as "aunt" and "uncle" only?

despite all the complexity, growing up in chinese family means a must have family gathering during lunar new year. my grandpa from father's side is the eldest, and therefore all family members plus extensive family members (i mean my family, plus my dad's brother's and sister's family, plus my grandpa's brother family, plus grandpa's brother in laws and children, and their grand children) have to pay a visit by default.

early in the morning with hong bao in hands.

it's always started early in the morning when mom woke me up, then i need to line up with my siblings (from oldest to youngest) to wish a prosperous new year to parents. then, by 10 AM in the morning we need to reach grandpa's house and wait for other relatives to come. before 12 PM, all grandpa's big family have to be there by default and we had lunch together.

suk suk hugging sister for first home coming from nanjing

dining table won't complete without this must-have dish: bakmi belitung (belitung noodle).
having the history of being noodle supplier to markets, my grandpa and all his children (including my dad) able to make noodle from scratch. i guess every province in indonesia have their own local noodle dish: bakmi jambi from jambi province, bakmi aceh from aceh province, and it's the same with bakmi belitung. this recipe originated from belitung province, the place where my dad grew up, with innovative creation here and there. it took 3 days to cook the gravy from beef bones and ribs, and 2 days to prepare all the bakwan (a bit thicker, different from usual bakwan), condiments, side dishes. a day before d day, we pick up our noodle (around 2 kg - 3 kg).

suk suk sampling the gravy

dad preparing bakmi belitung

simple look, historical taste.

and chomp!

of course, this won't be complete without hong bao.

happy face

laughters

and more laughters!

after lunch time, other relatives from extended family (my dad's cousins plus in laws plus their children) reached. then, we'll automatically split ourselves to adult group and children group. while all adults busy talking about business and stuffs, children will gathered in music room and do some karaoke.

about 5 PM, all dismissed.



this, only the first day of chinese new year.

suk suk - suk kung - dad during CNY 2011