(Taiwan Immigrants’ Global News Network) – Chinese New Year is a very important festival for the Chinese people. A Canadian YouTuber and Taiwanese daughter-in-law, Kelsi May, shares the cultural differences between Taiwan and western countries on her "Kelsi May 凱西莓" YouTube channel. In this episode of "New Immigrants in Taiwan", Kathy shares her experience when she celebrated the Chinese New Year in her Taiwanese husband's hometown back in 2020. She was able to experience traditional Chinese New Year customs and activities.
On New Year's Eve, plenty of food will be prepared to worship ancestors. Photo provided by Kelsi May
Kathy went to her husband's hometown in Ping Lin, New Taipei City (新北市坪林) for Chinese New Year. On New Year's Eve, Spring Festival couplets were posted on the door of the house, and on the refrigerator, which symbolized that a variety of rich foods will be available throughout the year. Spring couplets with the word "full" was pasted on the outside of the rice bucket, symbolizing that there will always be rice to eat.
Then they prepared pig’s feet, whole chicken, whole fish, rice cakes, and fruits to worship ancestors at home, and they also went to the nearby temple of the God of the Land (土地公廟) to worship. Kathy’s husband's family follows traditional worship customs, and she shared that celebrating the Chinese New Year with the elders involves some complicated preparations according to traditional customs, which is also something new for her.
Casey prepared many red envelopes. Photo provided by Kelsi May
Taiwan has the custom of giving out red packets during Chinese New Year. Kathy also prepared red envelopes to give to her family. The second day of the new year is the day when a daughter returns to her parents' home. On this day, Kathy also distributed red envelopes to her nephews and nieces. After her experience in the past few days, Kathy said that she found the traditional Chinese New Year activities in Taiwan very interesting, because she experienced customs and culture completely different from those in Canada.
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