What I do not like is to celebrate this event as a religious one because it clashes with my devout practices. The Lunar New Year is basically an agrarian festival that marks the change in season otherwise known as the spring festival. The fact is that Christianity already has liturgical feast to mark this change of seasons which we recognise to be Ash Wednesday. Thereafter we enter into Lent whose etymology means the lengthening of the day as winter gives way to spring.
This year is a close shave. The second day of Chinese New Year, which is tomorrow, is also Ash Wednesday. Since we value cultural celebrations as expressions of diversity, the tension is such that Christ must give way to our culture as we see in how tomorrow being day of fasting, abstinence has been dispensed with. For me, it would be nice to keep the Lunar New Year as a separate celebration from our religious obligation but I suppose that is impossible in today’s world of cultural diversity.
Granted that we stuck with this. Perhaps the best thing we can do is to see how we can marry our religious and cultural needs. If Lent signals a new beginning, I suppose it coincides with our New Year emphasis. New clothes, new hair-do or haircut, clean house, new notes and debts repaid. “Newness” signifies letting go of the past especially of misfortunes and spring cleaning signifies sweeping away bad luck, and welcoming new, fresh beginnings, prosperity, and health for the coming year. We all know the drill.
But all these reside on a material plane. It is basically something to do with acquiring new things or it could be a status-driven thing. In other words, it is materialistic. We all are aware that there is more in us human beings than the material plane (or level). We are spiritual beings too. Apart from new clothes, new notes, new hairstyle, how about thinking of CNY as symbolising interior change?
There is a long history of judging people by their clothing, yet what is true is that we should not judge a book by its cover. What this means is that we all instinctively know the “ugly” person not by his or her external looks. Rather, the richer they are and the more well-dressed they are, the greater will their contrast be when they reveal their true selves. For example, when we encounter a very fine-looking lady or gentleman and their behaviour is unbecoming, we are immediately put off. Why we are put off is because we know how the interior moral bearing of a person is much more important than his or her looks. As my Teochew grandmother would say, “Outside looks great, inside it is empty” (外面好看裏面空).
It is great that we want new things. But it would be greater if our desires are match by the same impetus to renew our souls and to renew our relationships.
When I was studying in Manila, we did not really cover “Chinese” philosophy. Instead, we touched on it, in passing, through our sociology. A thing that struck me and remained with me till today is how if one were serious about the practices of “Confucianism”, it would mean that some occupations are looked down upon and have to be excluded from consideration. Being a soldier is one of them. Imagine, how noble this vocation is, that is, to defend one’s nation, but according to the Confucian measure, it is deemed a less than perfect profession. Why?
Filial piety. Confucian thoughts lean heavily on filial piety and the greatest expression of honour for our parents is achieved through the Reunion Dinner. Ingrained into a Chinese mind-set is the need to return home for this occasion of paying respects to our parents and ancestors. A soldier on duty at the frontier cannot do that. Perhaps it explains the mass migration of people at this time of the year in China and if not travelling, you know how our ancestors who came from China were always looking back to their homeland. Seared deep into the Chinese consciousness is this innate drive for relationship (關係).
Mirror this with what Lent is if not a renewal of our relationship with God, with humanity and with nature? Wealth is good and prosperity is great. But how many of us have seen or even experienced it ourselves that family relationships are destroyed because of inheritance? Wealth can bring us happiness. When we shop and when we dine and when we travel. But without relationship how long can that happiness last? How many of us want to live with toxic family relationships? No money can buy the happiness of fulfilled and fulfilling relationships.
This year, since our Chinese New Year is close to Ash Wednesday, maybe we can think of it as a time of forgiveness and also a renewal of our relationship even as we are enjoying the finest ingredients in our “Basin Vegetables” (盆菜). Firstly, remember that the only relationship that matters most of all is with God. Secondly life is sweeter like our oranges when we have others with us and finally, life can continue if we take care of our nature or environment. Finally we do not really need to worry too much of ourselves. If anything, we are actually eating or drinking too much. If we renew ourselves, then let us live more moderately and always think of others.
