We had a celebration for the latest addition to the family, my little niece, on the weekend – a “full moon” celebration which is traditionally held for a baby when she is a month old or thereabouts.
We had a fairly traditional Chinese Malaysian celebration, complete with traditional foods: nasi kunyit (turmeric rice), chicken curry, hard boiled eggs dyed red and eaten with pickled ginger, and ang koo kuih (lit. “red tortoise cake”). The eggs for new life, the ang koo longevity. (I didn’t take any pictures as I was busy with kitchen duties, but this blogger’s pictures are good, if you are wondering what ang koo kuih looks like.)
I was thinking about how the foods we had are a reflection of the Malaysianisation of Chinese culture – you certainly wouldn’t get turmeric rice in China. In fact I don’t even know if Chinese people in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan make as big a deal of a baby’s first month as Chinese Malaysians do.
I wonder, too, how this tradition and other traditions will change over the years now that we’re all living in Australia…
6 Comments
I had a colleague from Shanghai who said that a lot of Overseas Chinese maintain the traditions and culture better than mainlanders, because a lot of history and culture were destroyed or forgotten about during the Cultural Revolution.
In Australia, I think we are lucky to have a continuous influx of migrants that the traditions would not be watered down any time soon. 🙂
i like these traditions. especially involving food and sharing it.
Oh, so gutted i missed the bash! I haven’t had ang koo kuih in the longest time! Hardly surprising, our generation hasn’t exactly been big on baby-making. 😉
I’m running really late but will have the photos up at flickr and on my site soon.
I think that’s a lovely tradition. I also think that over generations traditions incorporate new things and discard others, no matter where they’re based – in Europe over centuries a continuous process of different civilisations conquering others meant that cultures kept blending. The difference today is that the process is accelerated, maybe.
Thanks for that Mooiness, good point. And I agree about the continuous influx of migrants and how they will help with all these traditions.
Penny it’s amazing how most traditions do involve food! 🙂
jl, ya it was a pity you missed it. The ang koo was very nice – lots of mung bean paste filling, and very fresh too!
tfp the ones that are already up are great!
Sheena it will be interesting to see how things develop over time. I do wonder what Australian culture will look like in the next century…