Happy Chinese New Year! This year is the dog year, and that means that it is me and my dad’s year! We were born in the same “zodiac year”, as it rotates from rat to pig. The first story, the beginning of the zodiac year, varies, but I am going to tell my version. According to the legend, there was a great emperor who wanted an animal to be his supreme mentor. So, the animals all raced to the emperor’s palace. The first one to the palace before noon WILL be the supreme mentor. The first animal who left his home was the rat, and he actually told the cat about the feast at night, but he sneaked out. He attracted a lot of animals on the way, like the horse, snake, and bunny. The ox, however, was racing with the rat when they reached a river in front of the palace. So, the rat asked,
“I’ll make you a deal. How about you sail me over to the other side, but you can go first?”
The ox replied, ” Yeah, sure. I’ll hitch you a ride.”
So the rat stood on top of the ox, while the ox swam. When they got to the other side, the rat tricked the ox. The ox swam to the shore, but the rat jumped off and ran, sprinting to the palace gates. Therefore, the rat became the emperor’s mentor. The others who woke up in the morning were the other 6-7 animals who luckily got there just in time. The dog and pig were playing while they reached the palace, and the pig got there out of breath as the dog ran to the palace.
Now, this is the second story that a lot of people know: the start of the Chinese New Year. A long time ago, there was a legendary monster named Nian, and every year he will eat at least one person from the Chinese City. But when the people figured out that Nian had feared the color red, they all started wearing red and hanging red decorations on their doorstep. Since that day, Nian had never come back to the city again. Nowadays, we call it the Chinese New Year, because the purpose is to scare Nian and the other evil monsters away. The tradition is with a lot of food, but know what they mean:
- Dumplings = prosperity, and money
- Chicken = our family, our home
- Oranges = luck
- Taro Cake = fortune
- Fish = remaining money and things
- (THIS IS NOT FOOD!!!!!) Red envelope, for exchanging money
Also, for the food traditions say that you should leave fish left because the fish represents the remaining money and things. Just eat the leftovers the next day.
I like how you telling the story and the traditional meaning of food are great! Good job!! :DD