Raising The Red Lantern

After days of being covered in dust and surrounded by a chaotic mess of clutter, my festive spirit was starting to sag and was in danger of fizzling out. The upcoming New Year was beginning to lose a little of its shine. But, even as we rushed to try to complete the spring cleaning before Wednesday, we also started putting up the New Year decorations (yes, I know, we are extremely late this year). And with the added red and gold sparks in the house, the New Year cheer started to return.

There was a time, a few years ago, when I was still at that age when being “hip and cool” was so important, every year I would baulk and protest against the putting up of what I considered to be “cheena” (very Chinese) and infinitely “uncool” Chinese New Year decorations in the home. Everything was in bright ang pow red and kitschy gold. Yikes! But now, I love having these decorations up. They are what mark out this special celebratory period as being different from every day, normal life. Besides, I think chinoiserie is actually quite hip today.

Every year, we put up red lanterns at the entrance patio, together with a large string of cardboard firecrackers. (While Singapore saw its first fire crackers in Chinatown two weeks ago, after almost 30 years of absence, they are still not allowed in private homes). Traditionally, the letting of firecrackers was to chase away “evil spirits” and welcome new luck into the New Year. The hanging of red decorations at the doorway of your home always signify, for the Chinese, that the household is in celebration of some happy occasion. Therefore, when there is an impending marriage in the family for example, a piece of red cloth will also be draped across the doorway. It marks the declaration of a happy and auspicious occasion.

During CNY, it is also common to display pots of kumquats (small mandarin oranges) near the main door of the home. (By the way, the pots of pink flowers seen on the right are “fu gui hua” (flowers of blessings).

It is also customary to hang a matching pair of auspicious couplets (dui lian) on either side of the door. Strictly speaking, traditional Chinese custom also requires a third couplet to be hung across the top of the door, in addition to the pair at the sides of the door. However, in modern times, this is a relaxed “rule” which is largely ignored.

Couplets are chosen carefully for their auspicious meanings and both sayings should “match” each other.

Reading from right couplet first: tian zhen sui ye ren zhen shou - as the Heavens gain in age, so Man gains in longevity.
Left couplet: chun man chien kun fu man men – as Spring (i.e. Life) fills the Heavens and Earth (the Universe), so blessings fill the home. (Here, the word “men” or door is used to mean the home or hearth).
And so the couplets welcome the New Year and Springtime with the hope of abundant blessings, health and a long life in the coming year.

Another custom is to decorate all or most of the plants in the home with red decorations, be they red ribbons, red hanging decorations or even decorations fashioned out of ang pow (red packet) paper. This gives all the living things in the home an aura of “xi qi yang yang” – celebratory, festive cheer.

The golden orange color of the kumquats signifies prosperity and wealth, and this is a popular Chinese New Year gift given to friends, family and also business associates. They represent your wishes of abundance for those you care about.

We received this plant a few days ago from a family friend, and it too has had red ribbons added to its luscious branches. The fruits are still a little green, so hopefully they will ripen in time for New Year’s Day.

Here are fishes (“yu” signifying abundance) made from ang pow paper, hung on some plants in the entrance patio. Some years we alternate and hang ang pows instead (with real money inside too!). Usually empty ang pows are not used. Token sums of money are put in all the red packets used for decorative purposes.

Even the curly fu gui zhu (prosperity bamboo) has received red ribbon buntings and 2 big fishes that have also been fashioned from ang pow paper!

These fu gui zhu are the larger versions of the potted and layered one I spoke about in my previous post on CNY decorations.

Ah! This is a perennial favorite of a lot of people. “Ying niu” or pussy willow. There is something very appealing about the small, white and fuzzy buds of this plant. Again, auspicious hanging decorations are hung on its branches. For me, this always sort of represents the Chinese New Year version of the Christmas tree! We usually tie red fuzzy wired ribbons and hang gold decorations of “jin bao” gold nuggets, firecrackers, auspicious Chinese characters and so on. (click on close-up below).

When placed in a pot of water, these cut branches can last for a very long time. In fact, they will start to sprout leaves (which is a good sign, heralding the arrival of Spring). (click on close-up below).

[I do apologize for the poor quality of the photos of the pussy willow. My small pocket-sized camera refuses to shoot indoors without a flash, and the flash simply reflected off all the gold decorations and white buds to create blurred images ]

Placing auspicious pictures and sayings on the walls of the home is also popular and common during CNY.

This pair of Chinese New Year dolls have “gong xi fa cai” (congratulations, and may prosperity be with you) and “wan shi ru yi” (may all things go according to your wishes) written on the “jin bao” that they are carrying, and they are placed so that they greet guests with well wishes as they arrive to visit us during CNY.

One can also put up decorations with auspicious New Year wishes. These do not have to match, and can be anything that the homeowners find appealing and/or appropriate.

My mum chose these two for this year. The top one says: chu lu ping an - wishes for safe journeys when one travels. (Our family members travel often for work and business). The bottom one says: xin xiang shi chen – may your heart’s desires be realized.

Here’s another one…

A picture of two mandarin oranges, and using the sound of the name of the oranges, it is written “da ji da li”, meaning abundant blessings and luck.

And so with splashes of red and gold throughout the home, it is indeed beginning to look and feel a lot like Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
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