រីករាយចូលឆ្នាំសកល!
Dear Readers,
I wish for you a
blessed 2017, that the year be enriched with sincerity and compassion. I pray
that 2017 will be full courageous dreams and beautiful memories. In this new
year, may you abound in hope, love, and joy!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, this
blog wasn’t posted on the first day of the new year as I intended. (Surprise.)
However, I think there’s some circumstantial elegance in that I’m continuing
this post during Chinese New Year celebrations.
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| Bountiful goodness |
Happy Year
of the Rooster! “Roosters auspicious gifts are forward thinking and solid
self-confidence,” according to an image I saw. The Chinese New Year is also
referred to as the Lunar New Year, and each year is identified by one of the 12
animals in the Chinese Zodiac. A common well-wish for the New Year, in loose
translation, is for health, wealth, and opportunity. Here’s a fun language
lesson for you:
Earlier, I
read a festive coke can, and Google Translate insists that the phrase says
“Chinese New Year Greetings!” However, my host-sister had told me that the key word meant opportunity, so I asked,
“Like, it’s wishing good opportunity in the New Year?” She said yes. Then I
used a dictionary define each word, discovering that the phrase can mean
“Blessed Occasion,” where opportunity can substitute for occasion.
ជូនពរឱកាសចូលឆ្នាំចិន!
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| Delicious |
In Cambodia, the Chinese New Year is celebrated because
there are many with Chinese ancestry. My host-mother spent hours preparing
plates of delicious food- chicken, stew, fried noodles... Tables laden with
food, lucky trees decorated with little red envelopes (containing money for the
children), offerings, and burning incense were seen in every home. My host
sister showed me her Facebook feed, filled with photos of families dressed in
red and the lavish decorations and displays of food. Friends and family
gathered to eat together, to play together, or to holiday together.
Cambodian holidays are united by the traditions of food
and family.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, I started this post because I wanted to write
about the first New Year’s Eve celebration, as in the 31st of
December 2016. Ordinarily, I don’t await the New Year by staying up until
midnight or going out to parties or what-have-you, but this year was special.
My host family was going to the riverside for Countdown, and they wanted me to
join them.
Uncertain of what was ahead, I patiently waited through
the day. My waiting was interrupted when we took a short afternoon adventure to
the nearby province of Keb, where I finally saw the sea. (More on that later.) Then,
upon our return, my host mother began cooking, making these delicious fried
shrimp cakes. (I love them so much!) She kept making them and making them, and that
was my first conception that this wasn’t just a *little* event that we were
attending.
Ultimately, I found myself at the riverside. The
riverside is a long expanse of what you’d call park space, I suppose. Along the
river, between the water and the road, is a wide paved area with trees and
benches, frequently used for river-watching and sunset-gazing, for strolling,
or for chatting with friends. On NYE, it was used for all that and more. The
paved area was covered completely by picnic mats, lounge chairs, and blankets
where families had staked their claim. We shared our picnic mats with a family
from the neighborhood and their friends.
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| Some of the delicious food |
Our speaker was playing music while the children danced
along. My host-brother and his fiancée set up the grill and began cooking squid
and shrimp. My host-mother unwrapped the heaps of fried shrimp cakes while her
friends dished out rice and began serving food: shrimp, chicken, beef,
cucumbers, and so, so much more. There was probably 20 of us and we could have
eaten three times over. One of the friends started chopping up the fresh fruit-
watermelon, grapes, longan, apples, oh so many types- and prepared a cooler
full of sangria to share.
The children were dancing, the people were laughing, the
air was just filled with good cheer. After sunset, the children started
lighting firecrackers and fireworks. There was music pouring from many
speakers, and further down the river were stages with live music and
performances.
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| Launching a lantern |
At one point, I took a walk with my host-sister and her
friends, threading our way through the people and through traffic, admiring all
the food, fireworks, and festivities. The public buildings were decorated with
strands of lights. The restaurants were over-flowing with people. While we were
out, one of the friends bought a paper lantern, and I started to notice all the
glowing lanterns people were launching into the sky.
Back at our picnic spot, children were attempting to
launch lanterns, too. These lanterns were about half the size of a full-grown
human, so the children were dwarfed. The adults were invested in this
experience, too. As some lanterns caught fire before they launched or others
caught a draft of wind then promptly dropped from the sky into the river,
everyone offered their advice, their suggestions of the best method for
success. When a lantern would float gently up in the air, the crowd would
cheer. When it would dip, and start to fall, they’d gasp and urge it up, up,
up. If it fell, the groans resounded. Everyone had the joy of little children,
and it was beautiful.
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| Another lantern! |
Side note: there were also children wandering around
carrying balloons shaped like various animals, and I thought it was genius that
instead of tying the balloon to the child’s wrist or making them hold tight,
the balloon was simply tied to a full water bottle to weight it down.
There were these rocket firework sticks that shot sparks
from the tip, in slow succession as you held it out. They were quite pretty.
However, I loved them because they so much reminded me of the spells in Harry
Potter that would shoot red or green sparks from the tip of the wand. And there
you have it. Okay, I’m sure there’s a name, but I don’t know it, so from that
point on the were Harry Potter firework sticks.
As midnight approached, I was quite tired, despite the
copious amounts of coke I’d consumed. As I grew tired, I grew chilled, despite
my jacket and blanket-like scarf. Eventually, I was tucked inside my host-father’s
jacket, too, and I leaned back against the wall, content with life from within
my three layers. It was peaceful and I was happy.
I spent most of that time in silence, but there was one
especially sweet, sweet moment. There was a Canadian in the group, and I did
not speak to him for most of the night. However, at one point my host-mother
sat beside me and him beside her. He looked at her and complimented her fried
shrimp cakes (as well he should, because those are the bomb)… and she looked at
me, because this man was speaking English to her and she did not understand. I
felt this warmth inside of me as I translated for her, and again, as she wanted
to tell him they were all eaten, all gone. Then there was a moment of grand
confusion, because he started talking about these mosquito net tents and how
they’d be good to buy for a farm (he has one?) and would be better to rent than
the karaoke business he already ran (honestly, I was lost by this topic
transition), and I attempted to translate, because he was still talking to my
host-mother, but it was not successful. Regardless, I just want to honor that
moment, when my host-mother turned to me, silently asking me what this many was
saying to her.
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| Fireworks! |
At midnight, the crowd was standing, people were on the
beach lighting the Harry Potter fireworks and some fireworks were exploding in
the sky. Two confessions: One- I found this do-it-yourself celebration so much
fun and engaging with the whole crowd standing, engaged in the lights display,
more so than I’ve ever found passively sitting and watching a massive firework
show. Two- I actually missed the turn of midnight. I was videoing my host
father and some young men and their third attempt to launch a lantern when I
saw the sky start to light up with sparks and fireworks, so I turned my camera
towards the sky. Then, my host mother handed me a lit Harry Potter firework
stick. It was after that I glanced at my watch and saw that it was 12:04a.
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| Midnight celebration |
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Happy New Year, Readers! I hope you’ve been able to
catch a glimpse of this beautiful life, despite that words really fail to
express the experiences I have had.
Peace to you and yours!
With love,
KMJ
