Of CNY, angpows and fireworks

Playing with fireworks always lights up a kid

THERE once lived a boy in Bukit Mertajam, when much of the area was covered in coconut trees and the tallest buildings were supermarkets. 

As Chinese New Year approached each year, he would bring out his stash of firecrackers and ‘nightflowers’ to dry under the sun, believing that the gunpowder in them would make a louder bang.

As days to the celebration got closer, his parents would take him out to shop for new clothes. From shirts to pants and shoes, it must all be new for a new year.

Relatives from far and wide would arrive in a convoy of cars and he would help unload their luggage, then run across to the playground to reunite with his neighbourhood buddies, some of whom he only met once a year.  

On the eve of Chinese New Year, with everyone in the extended family present and accountedfor, they feasted on a steamboat extravaganza.

But the boy would just quickly eat up his meal because he was more interested in gauging theperformance of his arsenal of sun-dried fireworks, which the adults would leave him and his buddies to play while they crowd around the mahjong tables.

Come cheh itt (Penang Hokkien for Day One of CNY), there would only be one thing on his mind — the angpow collection mission.

It was not hard to suddenly become filthy rich, by that boy’s standards. Just wish a married or elderly person “Gong Xi Fa Cai” or “Xin Nian Kuai Le” or “Keong Hi Huat Chye” (Penang Hokkien), put on a cute smile, and an angpow would land in his open palm.

For almost a week, it would be paradise for him. No school, no homework, just lots of food and fun.

That boy was me. And those days are gone.

Villages have turned to towns and towns to cities.

Gone are the days of hustling through busy streets to shop for CNY goodies, because they can now be ordered online and delivered to your doorsteps.

We even most recently have “watch parties” on Facebook, with which people in different places are linked online to watch videos or movies together without physically seeing each other but able to chat in the comments reel on the screen.

Children, now seemingly inmortal danger when outdoors, stay indoors and are armed with mobile devices to battle each other in games.

And then now that I am married, I can’t collect angpows. It is my turn to give them out, and while I am eager to do so, the children aren’t as eager anymore. 

On many occasions, they will be too glued to their mobile phones to bother with anything else.

Only a few would come forward and put their hands out. And you can see in their eyes that their minds are still on the games in the phones in their pockets.

When Chinese New Year ends, I would be left with a thick wad of brand new RM1 notes to use because many of the angpows I prepared for kids were not given out.

At one time, the doors of each and every Chinese dining spot would be firmly closed for days during CNY and home kitchens operated all day and night to feed families and guests.

But now, gatherings have shrunk.

Friends seldom visit each other and restaurants stay open and charge exorbitant prices for reunion dinners.

Every house in the neighbourhood once wanted lions to dance into their living rooms -- even if it were for just five minutes -- to herald a year of prosperity for the occupants.

But lion dance performances are now only done in businesses.

This Chinese New Year, I resolve to try and bring back that oldfeeling for my family and friends. And I hope Penangites will treasure what made them today, not what they’ve become.   

We may have modernised into urban cities, but that must not stop us from getting back to our families for reunions, after all they made us.

And kids will come and wish me well because uncle has got a lot of angpows to give away.

Happy Chinese New Year!