Richmond, B.C., man remembers Lunar New Year in rural 1930s China

Out with the rooster and in with the dog.

Lunar New Year falls on Feb. 16 this year and, for much of the world, it is a time for elaborate celebrations.

Howe Kee Chan says it's easier than ever to make sure the holiday is full of happiness, with all the trimmings for a festive celebration available at the local dollar store and supermarket.

But the 82-year-old Richmond, B.C., resident remembers a time when ringing in the new year involved a complex and sometimes difficult set of traditions. 

Chan remembers spending the holiday with his family in rural China back in the '30s and '40s, when the family faced extreme poverty.

"We had chicken no more than four or five times a year," Chan told host Sheryl MacKay during CBC's North by Northwest. 

"So when there was the festival I always got a drumstick."

Food is a huge part of the Lunar New Year in China, a holiday as important as Christmas is in the Western world, Chan said.

No matter how far apart his family members were, they always came together for New Year's Eve dinner.

Fut Tei

Chan said his mother's baking was renowned in many surrounding villages, and on the morning of the festival he would rise at about 3 a.m. to gather fuel for the fire she would use to bake.

Leading up to her baking, Chan and his sister would gather rice stalks to be milled into flour, a process he remembers being quite strenuous.

She would then bake Fut Tei, a sweet steamed cake made with molasses his family obtained from the village's sugar mill.

Chan's extended family in the nearby villages were also quite poor, so his mother would take it upon herself to deliver Fut Tei to all her relatives.

Everything Chan's family had, they made. When they had to travel, they walked.

"I had to go with her," said Chan. "It was a lot of walking but I really enjoyed visiting the relatives."

Besides the dinner, Chan said that in his region there were ten days of festivities, each with a theme specific to a certain animal or valued commodity and each with a certain menu.

Some years, a lion dance troupe would arrive at their village to perform — his community couldn't afford a troupe of their own.

During the celebrations, the younger generations would go to their elders and wish them good health and long life. The elders in turn would wish the children strength and good fortune, before giving them good luck red packets. The packets would contain money, usually copper coins with which they could buy candies and fire crackers.

With files from North by Northwest