Columban Sr Ann Gray spent many years on mission in Hong Kong. She draws from traditions in her native Scotland and also from her adopted home in Hong Kong to wish readers a Happy New Year!
Having spent many years on mission in Hong Kong, I still find myself looking forward with anticipation to celebrating the Lunar New Year. Always celebrated on the second new moon after the winter solstice, it is one of the most important events in the Asian calendar.
Since it was originally celebrated as an agricultural festival when farmers observed the rhythm of the seasons and looked forward to the arrival of spring, it is also known as the Spring Festival.
In Mainland China in particular, work comes almost to a complete stop at this time of year as thousands of workers crowd into trains and buses crossing the length and breadth of the country to spend these days of celebration with their families.
To prepare for the celebration of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, homes are thoroughly cleaned to welcome fresh energy for the days ahead.
On the outside doors of family homes, Fai Chun (揮春), two strips of red paper bearing a New Year greeting, are hung. Nowadays, in Christian circles, these usually bear an appropriate quotation from the Gospels. Then, beginning on New Year’s Eve, the family gather to thank the gods for the blessings of the past year.
Traditional dishes are cooked for the family meal that follows, using various foods which have a special meaning – fish for abundance, noodles referring to long life and glutinous rice cakes as a sign of good fortune and prosperity for the coming year. At the end of the meal and during the days that follow, red packets (紅包, hóngbāo) containing money are given by those who are married to the unmarried during Chinese New Year, mostly to children.
The red colour of the envelopes symbolises good luck and is believed to ward off evil spirits. During all this preparation, everyone eagerly awaits the arrival of the New Year at midnight and the explosion of firecrackers, the noise of which is believed to dispel evil spirits and bring good luck and happiness.
The days that follow can, for many families, be the busiest of the year as, dressed in their finest clothes and with children being sure to carry a small bag to collect their red packets, visits are made to relatives and friends to wish them 新年快樂 (Happy New Year). While visits on day three of the Lunar New Year are avoided as it is easy to quarrel on this day, there are always great celebrations on the seventh day which is considered to be everybody’s birthday.
In Mainland China, the celebrations can continue for a total of fifteen days and are brought to a close with the Lantern Festival which includes an impressive Dragon Dance since dragons are believed to possess qualities of great power, dignity, fertility, and wisdom.
New Year’s Eve in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo: Shutterstock
While in Hong Kong and China some of the traditional New Year greetings contain wishes for good health (身體健康) or the strength of the dragon (龍馬精神), in my home country of Scotland, our most famous New Year greeting is ‘Lang may yer lum reek’.
To the uninitiated, this may look and sound like a foreign language which, in one sense, it is. Literally translated from the Scots dialect, it means “Long may your chimney smoke” and is our traditional New Year greeting which originated when people had coal fires – if the chimney was smoking it meant that you could afford coal and keep warm.
As the daughter of a coal miner, this was a very common greeting in my family and always recalled the risks my father and other miners were exposed to as they worked underground, often in conditions which were not particularly safe.
Before we are ready to greet friends and neighbours in this way, however, we in Scotland celebrate New Year’s Eve – Hogmanay – a word which, according to the dictionary, is derived from the Old French word, aguillanneuf meaning a New Year’s gift. It is thought to have been used widely following Mary, Queen of Scots’ return to Scotland from France in 1561.
For many Scots even today, Hogmanay is our busiest day of the year when the whole family becomes involved in ‘redding the house’. It is scrubbed from top to bottom since to begin the New Year in an unclean house is considered to be bad luck. In addition, all debts must be cleared by that day, bills paid and all clothes washed before the stroke of midnight and the arrival of the New Year.
As soon as the bells ring out at midnight ushering in the New Year, everyone will shout ‘Happy New Year’ and embrace family and friends, often then followed by a rousing rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ – the song that now seems to be known worldwide. Not unlike the Chinese of Hong Kong, we would then set out to share New Year greetings by our traditional ‘first-footing.’
To ensure good luck, the first foot to arrive in the house on New Year’s Day should be a dark-haired male (believed to be a throwback to Viking Days when blonde strangers arriving on your doorstep could mean trouble). As a first-footer, it is expected that you would bring gifts, such as a piece of coal, shortbread or black bun cake and whiskey to ensure that in the coming year, the household would have the good fortune of heat, food, and drink.
The distance between Hong Kong and Scotland might be over 9,000 kilometres but, in many ways, I am happy to say, our New Year traditions keep us very close. So this year I will celebrate the year of the Snake (蛇), the sixth of the twelve animals in the Chinese Zodiac twelve-year cycle. According to tradition and popular belief, people born in the Year of the Snake are believed to be intuitive, strategic, and intelligent – all qualities which I wish for our readers of the Far East!
Sr Ann Gray is from Scotland. She served as a lay missionary in Sierra Leone before she joined the Missionary Sisters of St Columban. She served on mission in Hong Kong, where she co-established Action for REACH OUT, an organisation providing services to female sex workers on the streets and nightclubs of Hong Kong. She also served as congregational leader. She is now based in Ireland and is Assistant Editor of the Far East.
Published in the January/February 2025 issue of the Far East magazine. Please subscribe and support the work of Columban Missionaries. From €10 for digital edition and €20 for the print edition. See https://columbans.ie/far-east-magazine/
