Once again I have fallen into being a little too busy to write a blog post in real time (I did just give an English exam to all the kids at school so I have been busy grading those and also been working on some other projects to leave with the school)! Last weekend was Chinese New Year, and because my host mom (grandma) is Chinese, we celebrated it!
It first started the night before (Thursday night) when my host sister was out late at the market buying everything for Chinese New Year. This included the red posters and decorations to hang outside, lots of fruit, and ingredients to cook food. After she came home, my host brother came home with two live chickens (which were trying to escape- and then I was told the chickens would be dead tomorrow, which led to me making a sad face and all my high school students at home teasing me about it). The next morning, I heard cooking happening in the kitchen at 4:30am and when I rolled out of bed at 5:45 to get ready to teach, I saw everyone in the kitchen cooking food (and I saw the two chickens, already cooked). I went to school like a normal day and taught, but I had a lot less kids at school because of the holiday. I did not teach the teachers English that day either because many of them were celebrating the holiday and were at home cooking. Around 9am, my host sister called me and said to come home to help do the ceremony. Because I finished teaching, the school director said it was ok to go.
For the ceremony, we put out a lot of food for our ancestors (I get to say our now because my sister told me that she asked the family to protect and watch over me as a part of the family) and we also prayed with incense. After that, we burned (fake) money outside and left a small table outside with more fruit and food for the ancestors who do not have families to leave food out for them. Because this was also a celebration to spend time with your family, we went to my family's hometown which is a 20 minute drive away (there was a separate issue of getting a tuk tuk to take us there-because I am not allowed to ride a motorcycle-but we got one! so I got to go). We hungout at a family member's house and then we played a game with the red envelopes that people give. My host sister put
different amounts of money in all of the envelopes and then stapled them to a big tree branch and all of the students got to pick an envelope off of the branch (I got to pick too and won 2,000 riel- around $0.50). My host sister left a table outside for the angels as well, and I had a nice conversation with her about life. Although the students were singing karaoke, my host sister liked to just sit outside and enjoy the night and the little altar she had made. After I spoke with her, I went to the student area to hang out and listen to music. We played music and
sang karaoke before going to sleep.
The next day, we all got dressed in red again and we went on a "long walk". My sister's brother came to pick us up in the car and we packed a picnic to eat. We first went north of where I live, to a mountain that is supposed to be a preservation area. We hiked up all of the steps (and despite being a little sweaty) I got to walk and think, while also trying to chase down my younger host sister and my host nephew. We drove to another area to hangout and have a picnic together before then heading to Banteay Chhmar. Banteay Chhmar is a temple that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I have been before and so this time was just a nice time to spend with my family to celebrate.
My host sister told me that we wore red the whole time to cut off the bad things that are in the coming year. I think this was a great way to start the new year and for sure a beautiful way to celebrate. Not everyone in Cambodia celebrates Chinese New Year, they only celebrate if someone in the family has a Chinese ancestor. However, there is a Khmer New Year that happens in April which everyone celebrates and so I look forward to that celebration!
Sorry for the short post today! I was busy today going to a birthday party for an older woman (where there is a breakfast, ceremony with many Buddhist monks, and a lunch) which totalled 5 hours, then made desserts with my host sister for the students, and then went to a house warming party at night! Ready to start the week off!
Comments