Key Points
- Family gatherings are often a highlight of Lunar New Year celebrations.
- Different communities and families mark the occasion with a variety of meaningful dishes.
- Certain foods and colours are considered to bring good fortune and happiness.
As seen during holiday celebrations such as Christmas, and those aligned with the Gregorian calendar, Lunar New Year festivities often see gatherings among families and friends.
Although there are foods that are staples during the event - which commences on 10 February - such as dumplings and fish, there are also dishes that are unique to each celebrating family, especially among members of the Chinese community.
Feli Widagdo is an Indonesian of Chinese descent who has lived in Sydney for the past 15 years. She will be marking the Lunar New Year with her extended family in Jakarta, a time reserved for the "best dishes".
"Usually, [like] this aunt is famous for bringing lohua meatballs, which are made from minced pork and mushrooms," Widagdo said.
"This [other] aunt, for example, who is famous for her roast pork, will bring roast pork, grilled pork, [something] like that.
"They always bring their special dishes, dishes that they're experts on," she said, adding that noodles are also one dish that is always served as a symbol of longevity.
Noodles are believed to symbolise longevity in Chinese tradition. Credit: Koh Sze Kiat/Getty Images
"We celebrate it a lot with good friends too, as our second family in Australia," said Ferdinan Tanzil, a Chinese-Indonesian who first came to Sydney in 1997 to study.
A father of two, he has passed the New Year's tradition down to his own family, in a fashion similar to the tradition he remembered as a child.
“I always remember the red packet, the angpao. [And] the night before Lunar New Year is always a family gathering," he recalled.
"We always have dinner with all the family we may not have seen for a long time."
Family gatherings and red packets. That's what I remember most about childhood Lunar New Years.Ferdinan Tanzil
The importance of colours
The colour red is considered very lucky, Dr Pan Wang - a senior lecturer in Chinese and Asian Studies at the University of New South Wales - explained.
“So while you see a lot of red-coloured decorations, it's also a tradition for Chinese to give a red envelope to children as a way to celebrate the new year and celebrate their growth,” she said.
But red is not the only symbolic colour during the period. Several other colours are believed to bring good fortune and should be present and shown at important moments such as the New Year.
“Red and gold. Usually people like combinations of clothes that must include red and gold," said Widagdo, adding that Chinese people wear these colours during the New Year because they are thought to bring happiness, luck and abundance.
Special fruits during the Lunar New Year celebration
Bright orange is another 'good colour'.
So it is not surprising that mandarin orange, a fruit with a striking orange colour and round shape, is widely considered as a sign of .
"The colour is nice, the taste is delicious, it's easy to open, and its season is the same as Lunar New Year," Widagdo said.
"People use this fruit as a symbol too; this is Chinese New Year's fruit, for us to share. We put it as the display on the table for family sharing."
Fresh seasonal fruits are a staple of many Lunar New Year celebrations. Source: iStockphoto / DragonImages/Getty Images/iStockphoto
"We will have them, rambutan, lychee, durian," she said.
"Because the family likes durian, they also brought durian."
Although it may be divisive, durian - a thorny and pungent-smelling fruit originating from Southeast Asia - is one of the special gifts people bring during the Lunar New Year.
It is that the price of the fruit has soared in Vietnam due to high demand from China ahead of the Lunar New Year.
This tropical fruit is thought to bring good fortune with its thorns pointing in various directions.
Tanzil shared this similar sentiment. He and his Chinese-Malaysian business partner, Alex Liu, experienced the fortune brought in by durians first-hand.
Alex and Ferdinan say their Musang King durian ice cream brought them good fortune. Credit: Supllied/Moo'ed
The opening came amid post-pandemic uncertainty.
Although it's not always smooth sailing, their Musang King durian ice cream has been much sought-after especially ahead of the Lunar New Year.
"The colour of durian is gold and it is very connected to Lunar New Year," Tanzil said.
"So we have the durian flavour before Lunar New Year. That is for sure.
"Because we know that, many people want to buy it for family gatherings," adding that 100 tubs of their durian ice cream once sold out online in less than 15 minutes.
Alex Liu (L) and Ferdinan Tanzil opened the door of their ice cream shop in November 2021. Credit: SBS Indonesian
“My family had 11 acres of durian farm in Malaysia. We have the fruit, and the rest is made into cakes," he recalled.
So my Lunar New Year has always been about durian and family and friends.Alex Liu
“That’s my memory of durian up to the point, I think when I was 11, I stopped eating durian because I got so sick of it,” he acknowledged, adding that he started to eat the fruit again around six years ago.
“But I think more importantly, durian is my childhood.”
Having been successful with other fruit-flavoured ice creams that have good interpretation in Chinese tradition, such as lychee and calamansi, Tanzil and Liu were challenged to make mandarin their next project.
