Special New Year Food
Food plays a major role in both Chinese and Japanese New Year celebrations. There are many New Year food that we will have. Why are these food important in Chinese or Japanese new year? Not only because they are delicious, but according to traditions, many foods have symbolic significance. Sometimes this is based on the appearance of the food and the way the word sounds.
In China, the combination of the dishes are very important. Usually they symbolize happiness, prosperity fortune or luck.
Fish (yu) - in chinese it pronounces same as excess, or net gain. So eating fish is wishing to have a profit.
New Year Cake (Nian gao) - The Chinese character "gao" sounds the same as "high" in Chinese; so eating "nian gao" will attain a higher status in the new year.
Lotus Seeds (Lian zi) - promising family with a continuous lineage.
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| c.07Fish | c.08New Year Cake | c.09Lotus seeds |
Oyster (Ho si) - in Cantonese sounds the same as "good occasion"
Sea-Moss(Faat choi) - sounds the same as "prosperity". Usually Oyster always go with sea-moss in Chinese new year dish, they combine prosperity and good occasion(faat choi ho si).
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| c.10 Oyster | c.11Sea moss |
Fried bean curd(jin dui) - fulfillment of wealth and happiness
Tangerine(Kak) - sounds the same as "luck"
Tong Yuen - reunion.
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| c.12Fried bean curd | c.13Tangerine | c.14Tong Yuen |
In Japan, there are several kinds of traditional Osechi Ryori, osechi ryori means "new year food" in Japanese. Here are some of them and their meaning.
First of all, osechi ryouri is designed to be preservable. We put them in a box called¡§jyubako¡¨ and keep the food in an airy room. Jyubako is usually made of Japanese lacquer. Dishes for sake drinking and inside jubako are also shown. Jubako means piled up boxes.
| j.05 Sake dishes and Jubako, "piled up boxes" | j.06 Inside Jubako |
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j.07 Cooked Black Beans (Mame) -wish for healthy (mame) life |
j.08 Herring Ovary (Kazunoko) - prosperity of decendant |
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| j.09 Boiled Kelp (Kobu) -wish for happiness (=yorokobu) | j.10 Sardine (Iwashi) -wish for rich hervest (because sardines were used to be manure for the soil) | j.11 Cooked Spring Vegitables - just a celebration for spring | ||
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