Multicultural parenting: Lunar New Year is 'holiday magic'

December 26 meant Christmas came and went. My North Carolinian Southern husband plopped down on the couch with a huge sigh of relief. The excitement of the holidays has worn off. Reality check of two more months of cold damp weather woefully came upon him. Sitting across from him, I was in a different headspace. He might even say that I appeared withdrawn and somewhat stressed. Well, I was because I was fretting:

“What am I going to do about Lunar New Year? It’s only three weeks away!”

Seeing that the last four weeks were filled with holiday preps, shopping and children’s activities, the preferable option for any overwhelmed parent is to forgo the Chinese holiday. The month of December saw us recreating the Christmas holiday magic that my husband knows and loves. Getting a real Christmas tree and decorating it, visiting Santa, seeing Christmas lights, and baking Aunt Maria’s Christmas cookies were part of the magic. I went along with it because Christmas was always just a religious holiday in my Christian upbringing. Attending the church on Christmas Day was probably the only thing I did growing up. For this Chinese-Malaysian mother, Lunar New Year is where it’s at when it comes to “holiday magic”.

My New Year holiday magic growing up in Sarawak, in Bornean Malaysia, includes bombastic firework displays that I stayed up past midnight for. My mom would also let us help her bake all night. I would get so excited wearing my new dresses and greeting my elders for hong baos, red envelopes filled with fresh bills of cash. It was my time of year to “earn” my yearly income!

Jumping to the beats of the lion dance was always a highlight. Visiting relatives and friends and stuffing oneself with exquisite Malaysian cakes and cookies were sure-fire ways to make any child really excited for the new year. The festivity of the Lunar New Year is made merrier with bigger families. The bigger your extended family is, the more hong baos you are going to receive, the more fun you are going to have.

However, recreating the New Year holiday magic is challenging with my family beings located in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. To be honest, before having my son, I was fine not celebrating Lunar New Year when I migrated to Australia and later to the U.S. Without my extended family around, I wasn’t compelled to pull out all stop to celebrate what became “a cultural holiday” in Australia, my new home country.  It slowly transformed into a simple dinner catching up with friends and family.

This huge festivity sadly blipped into an afterthought for most of my adult life. Becoming a parent made me start re-evaluating things I used to deem inconsequential, things like this cultural holiday that was deservedly designated as a state holiday in California this year. I began to rethink how to define my heritage in my parenting.

As a multicultural family, we decided to merge my Chinese traditions to ensure that our son will a strong sense of his identity. When Euan was born, he was given a Chinese name 承宏[Cheng Hong]. It is especially important that he knows his Chinese name and what it means – to be great and responsible. Similarly, we would make an effort to speak Mandarin at home to make sure that he is also embracing his Chinese heritage. This would’ve been easier if my family’s around to be part of those traditions, Unfortunately, as the lone Mandarin speaker in our immediate social circle, I carry the burden to be the cultural ambassador for our son.

I returned to the question I was ruminating post-Christmas. For Lunar New Year, I would so love to make dumplings and pineapple tarts, write Chinese calligraphy, decorate the house in all things red… and I began to hyperventilate just at the thought of them. My husband looked helplessly worried. Well, understandably so because he simply does not know what it means to really celebrate the Lunar New Year. He also knows that I would to go all out if I put my mind to it.

To get me out of my headspace, knowing suggesting not celebrating it would just raise my ire, he asked: “If you could do one thing with us for New Year, what would it be?”

That prompted me to think of this simple sweet rice ball dish we would eat on Lantern Festival, the 15th and last day of the New Year festivity, which falls on February 5th this year. I could arrange it so that my son and husband could participate in making it.

It was moment like this that I am so grateful for my husband. He may not understand or share the onus of my culture, but he would ask thoughtful questions to remind me that we are doing this parenting together. I am glad that I am able to celebrate the coming of the Year of the Rabbit in a meaningful way with my multicultural family. That is magical in itself.

Recipe: Tang Yuan (Sweet Rice Ball with Sesame Filling)

Ingredients

Filling

• 60 g (2 oz) black sesame seeds, white sesame seeds, peanuts, or cashews
• 60 g (2 oz) sugar
• 60 g (2 oz) coconut oil

Rice ball

• 120 g (1 cup) glutinous rice flour (also known as sweet rice flour or mochiko flour)
• 150 ml (1/2 cup) warm water, preferably close to boiling.

Method

• In a food processor, grind the sesame seeds to a fine powder. Add sugar and coconut oil and pulse it for 5 seconds at a time until well combined. Pour the sesame mixture into a bowl and chill before using.
• To make the rice ball, put the rice flour into a heat-proof bowl. Add the warm water a tablespoon at a time while stirring the flour to make a soft dough. The dough shouldn’t be wet or sticky.
• Before assembling, fill a medium pot halfway with water and bring it to a boil.
• To assemble, take the sesame filling out from the fridge. On a rice flour dusted surface, divide the dough into 12 marble-sized ball.
• Flatten each ball with your thumb. Place enough filling in the center of each flatten dough. Close the dough around the filling and gently roll with your palms into a ball. Repeat till all the rice balls are filled. Store any leftover filling back in the fridge.
• To cook, add the sesame-filled rice ball into the pot of boiling water. Stir the rice ball to prevent them from sticking.
• When the water comes to a boil again, add ½ cup of cold water to the pot and bring it to a boil. Repeat this for two more times. Keep an eye out that the water is not boiling too vigorously to keep the rice ball intact.
• Serve the rice ball in a small bowl with some of the cooking water. For younger children, quarter the rice balls before serving as they can be a bit chewy for them.

Bonus: Toddler Friendly Sensory Activity

• Have your toddler to scoop water with a measuring spoon into a bowl of rice flour.
• Once water is added, glutinous rice flour paste is sticky much like slime. Toddlers can stretch it apart or make the flour paste into a ball.