Lucky red envelopes with crisp new bills are given to children. Some parents slip in candy instead.
By LEANNE ITALIE
Associated Press
NEW YORK — With its fireworks, family reunions and feasts, Lunar New Year is the longest and most important celebration for millions around the world.
For kids adopted from China, it holds special meaning. Lunar New Year makes them mini-ambassadors of a culture they know little about firsthand.
There’s no official handbook on how far parents of internationally adopted children should go to celebrate their kids’ birth cultures, but marking Lunar New Year — Year of the Dragon begins Jan. 23 — is usually one of those times for Asian children.
Their parents decorate front doors, throw dumpling-making parties and stuff red envelopes with money. They clean their homes at the start of the 15-day celebration and hang red lanterns at the finish. Others keep it simple, sharing dim sum with friends at a restaurant or watching dragons dancing at parades in Chinese enclaves in their cities and towns.
The approach shifts and changes as their children grow. Some question whether they’ve done enough. Some do nothing at all.
“In south Louisiana, we’re definitely ambassadors to the Chinese culture,” said Jan Risher in Lafayette. She and her husband have a 10-year-old from China.
“When she was younger, I tried to do more of the outward Chinese cultural things, like decorations and cooking specific dumplings,” Risher said. “But now that she’s a little older, we mainly talk about China, its history and customs, and even its politics so that she can try and wrap her head around why she’s here. She’s a deep thinker.”
Karen Burgers in northern New Jersey has two girls from China, ages 10 and 5. They wear silk Chinese dresses and nibble vegetable lo mein, oranges and fortune cookies she brings in to school for the new year.
“I’ve certainly failed to promote an authentic experience,” Burgers said, “but the children get the gist, enjoy the festivity and learn a little about the culture.”
The symbolism and superstitions surrounding the new year are steeped in more than 5,000 years of Chinese history. Here’s a sampler of popular customs among parents looking to celebrate the birth cultures of their adopted kids.
CHINESE ZODIAC: The dragon is the fifth and mightiest position in the Chinese Zodiac. For adopted kids, knowing one’s birth animal is a casual connection, though the convoluted zodiac includes many other elements taken far more seriously in Asia.
“My kids love to hear about the Chinese Zodiac,” said Heather Mayes Gleason in Takoma Park, Md. She has a 5-year-old girl from China and a biological 3-year-old son.
“With Chinese adoption, you know very little about your child’s history, but you create their future. And I guess that is really what Chinese New Year is about,” Gleason said.
CLEANING HOUSE: Before the new year, sweep away any bad luck from the previous year. Hair is cut before the new year and children wear new clothes to represent a new beginning.
For Myra Cocca in central Indiana, it’s harder as her kids have grown older and busier to observe the traditions they loved when they were small. Her son, adopted from South Korea, is now 11. When he was little, she dressed him in a traditional garment called a hanbok for new year’s. Today, “sometimes we’re not home during the holiday, so we have not always marked the occasion,” she said.
RED: The color is prominent in banners bearing holiday sayings in Chinese letters and decorative paper cutouts placed on doors and windows to scare away evil spirits and bad luck, along with gold and orange to symbolize wealth and happiness in the year to come.
Lucky red envelopes with crisp new bills are given to children. Some parents slip in candy instead.