by Anishametra Saravanan & Athirah Sofea

It’s that time of the year again where rows of cascading red lanterns adorn the streets of the country and bright fireworks illuminate the night sky, signifying the new and prosperous start of the Lunar New Year. With Chinese New Year (CNY) around the corner, we caught up with a few of our very own YTL Family to learn about their family traditions and celebrations.  

Despite growing up in a mixed background herself, Melisa Ann, the Head of Content and Production at E-Solutions, clearly remembered how apprehensive she felt to meet her husband Jason’s family for the first time. However, her worries faded away when she saw first-hand how much of a melting pot his family culture truly was. 

Growing up in Melaka with Chinese Peranakan heritage, Melisa states how her husband had relatives from a myriad of races and cultures which made celebrating CNY all the more fun. Melisa shares, “The beautiful part about celebrating with a family of multiple cultures is that since everyone is from different religions, the elders would each take turns to say their respective prayers before mealtime. And since some of his family are Malay, they don’t serve pork for their meals.” 

“For me, celebrating Christmas was always a one-day occasion which mostly involved my immediate family. Marrying into another culture made me realise how I needed to prioritise time with my family and how grand of an affair CNY can really be when it includes extended family. The change in mindset happened when I learned about their culture and now, I embrace it.” 

After a decade of marriage, Melisa has truly grown to love her family’s CNY festivities as she fondly recalls forgetting to convert her money into smaller change when she first got married. It’s now become a therapeutic after-reunion-dinner ritual for her and her husband to fill in ang pao packets. She finds great joy in giving them away to the little ones and seeing their faces light up.  

Another tradition that she holds dear to her heart is soja – a ritual held on the first morning of the New Year. “When Jason’s grandmother was still around, we would kneel before her to pay our respects while taking turns to convey our well wishes in Malay like “Selamat taon baru, Ah Ma” (“Happy New Year, Grandma”). His grandma would typically reply likewise, with “panjang-panjang umor” (“wishing you a long life”) and “badan boleh kuat-kuat” (“wishing you good health”). 

And just like any other Malaysian family occasion, the celebration isn’t complete without one important factor.  “Another thing I look forward to is the food!” 

Growing up in Penang, Melisa’s CNY celebration with her friends meant having a hearty steamboat dinner and much to her dismay, she was surprised to learn that it was not something that Jason’s family did. She’s proud to announce that they have now included steamboat as a permanent CNY tradition, making their gatherings all the merrier.  

The family also enjoys fresh fish and prawns every year, caught by Jason’s cousin who deep fishes. Other favourite dishes of hers include udang masak lemak, chap chye and Portuguese delicacy, curry debal.  

“Fireworks are a must,” Melisa adds laughingly. These days, CNY is her perfect excuse to get away from the city while immersing into the beautiful traditions and customs that she doesn’t get to do too often. 

For Michelle Hui Yee Low, Programme Manager at YTL Foundation, CNY means a trip back to Melaka, the hometown of her father and where many of the relatives still reside.   

The tradition would be driving down south on the eve of CNY. Upon arriving in Melaka, they will then head to her aunt’s house for a reunion lunch where they will have steamboat, a staple and tradition for the family. “My aunt, bless her, she is the ultimate hostess. She prepares and cooks everything for lunch and dinner and there is about 50 to 60 of us. Not just that, she is strict about not allowing anyone to help her,” explains Michelle about her amazing aunt. The family lives in a kampung area, so the meals will be authentic home-cooked Chinese dishes, including her most-loved roasted kampung chicken.  

On the next day of the celebration, there is a full-on lion dance at her aunt’s house for blessings and to bring good luck for the upcoming year. This is when the adults gather to play card games while supervising the kids with kid-friendly fireworks. Between lunch and dinner, the family would normally visit other aunts and uncles who live in Melaka. Michelle added, “my uncle lives next to a Chinese temple, it is exciting to see the celebrations happening there. We would peep through to see more lion dance and other festivities”. Another highlight is visiting the uncle who owns a durian orchard, “It’s definitely a treat for all, everybody gathers to have durian. And for those who are not big fans of durian, they can have the mangosteen instead,” said Michelle.  

When asked what excites her the most about CNY, Michelle told us, “I won’t lie, it’s the angpao,” she expresses with a big grin on her face and added “to be frank, it’s the time spent with the family especially my cousins and also watching my father enjoying his time with his family”.  

After 3 days of festivities in Melaka, her family then goes back to Kuala Lumpur to meet her mother’s brother and family. They normally have dinner at a restaurant where they will have her favourite Sang Har Mee, a freshwater prawn noodle dish. The highlight of this dish is the huge-sized fresh river prawns cooked in a Cantonese-style egg broth poured over fried noodles which enhances the taste and fragrance of the dish. Funnily enough, we found out her least favourite CNY dish is the Yee Sang. “The salmon is fine but nobody gives you extra salmon or crackers. And then the vegetables in there, I don’t really fancy,” she giggles.    

As someone with an academic background in Global Studies, Michelle has a love for anything culture. As an adult, she is more inquisitive about the traditions and customs of Chinese New Year, especially the traditions practiced by her father’s family, who are Taoist and hold true to them. When asked whether her father pass down the traditions to them, Michelle said no but her mother who is less traditional does observe some of the pantang-larang (superstitions), such as, no sweeping or mopping on the first day of CNY, and not wearing black or dark colours during this period. Now that she has her own place, she subconsciously carries on those tradition too.   

Another interesting thing about Michelle is she is in an interracial relationship and the beauty of it is, she once attended a Hindu wedding in the middle of the 14 days of CNY celebration. “I was decked out in a saree during CNY and the best part about Indian culture is it is very colourful, basically I’m not breaking any pantang-larang” she said with a smile.  

Malaysia is extremely diverse and it’s beautiful seeing different cultures merge together to experience the blending of two cultures and of course, the best excuse to celebrate more festivals!  

And in case you missed SPYTL’s Lion Dance in Townhall last week, enjoy this little gallery of the day’s event!