Tradition.
I was taking a shower on the night before Chinese New Year and asked myself if I should wash my hair. It is a Chinese tradition not to wash your hair on the first day of CNY. We are not supposed to cut our fingernails or sweep the floor on the first day as well. With that in mind, I've decided to wash my hair so it wouldn't stink after two days of not washing my hair.
I thought it was really weird yet amazing, that some traditions from different cultures are still kept till this day. I was taught of these traditions since I was young and I followed them without asking or hesitating. Now that I'm almost adult, even knowing that the reasons behind these beliefs and tradition might not be true, I still feel uncomfortable with the thought of disobeying it.
We were always told to preserve our tradition so that our culture and identity would be kept. People had passed down these habits from generations ago and it is our duty to do the same. But the world is so modern now, not all of our traditions are kept. Well, I'm a Chinese so I'm just gonna talk about our Chinese traditions.
I recently read two books by Lisa See about the lives of girls living in ancient China (She wrote quite a number of books about girls in ancient China). One of the most notable events in both books are the foot binding practice that girls go through at a young age. Chinese people from the past believe that girls with tiny feet are beautiful, and the more smaller it is, the more value a girl has. They'll go through extremes extend to achieve this, even if it means breaking bones and letting their foot rot.
There are so much more tradition and habits that really happened in ancient China and it all looks ridiculous now. Not that I disrespect my ancestors' ways of thinking, but it simply illogical and impossible for it to happen in today's world. For an example, now thanks to science, we know that a baby's gender depended on the father's sperm cell, not the mother's ovum. Oh, imagine if we traveled through time and told my ancestors about this, they'll go crazy, because during their lives, they believed a girl being born was the mother's fault.
It is also impossible to keep these traditions alive because most of the time, women are treated poorly in these traditions and are in the favor of men. Now with the increasing amount of feminists (or feminazis), there are just no way that these strong women will allow such practice to continue.
In a way, I'm thankful that these practices and traditions are no longer valid because if they are, I'll have to start binding my foot at the age of four, get married out to a stranger at the age of 16 and my duty is only to give birth to sons. We have so much freedom these days, but in the end we sacrificed our ancestor's way of living. And it might be a good thing too.
The most popular tradition still kept by the Chinese today is the reunion dinner on CNY eve. It's the perfect reason to gather all family members together and have a meal. It's even more useful today because people these days go overseas for studies or work and they rarely get the chance to spend time with their family. According to tradition, we're supposed to cook our own meals in our own home and everyone will sit around a round table and dine in together.
But this year, I had my reunion dinner at a restaurant. Although the intention is there, we're not following the exact tradition anymore. I also heard some families who have their reunion dinner the day before CNY eve or on the first day of CNY itself. It might seem like a minor problem, but we're already slowly changing tradition in our favor of our modern lives.
Fireworks and firecrackers are used to chase away evil spirits in CNY but they are banned in Malaysia. Not everyone wear red on the first day of CNY anymore and not every Chinese visit the temple to pray for good luck. Our traditions just doesn't apply that much on our lives anymore.
I'm not a religious person and my family doesn't pray to the Gods. We're already ending the traditions and practices related to religion with my family and it will be even worse when I have my own kids. That is, provided that my mother-in-law is just as not religious as me. Please don't curse me for generations, dear ancestors.
In a way, it is sad that traditions are slowly dying. Not because we purposely want them to die, but we just can't keep the practice anymore because of our ever changing lives and maybe, because we just don't care anymore. And yes, laziness. Yeap, it is just that sad.
Well, this year's CNY was like the usual. As I grow up it I don't really get the festive feeling anymore but I'm okay with that. But I had fun going back to my hometown and it's wonderful to spend time with my family and relatives.
Right now as I'm typing, fireworks are exploding in the sky because the Hokkien people are celebrating the ninth day of CNY (Bai Tian Gong). Somehow it feels like it's noisier than the first day of CNY.
Oh well, Happy Goat Year.
I thought it was really weird yet amazing, that some traditions from different cultures are still kept till this day. I was taught of these traditions since I was young and I followed them without asking or hesitating. Now that I'm almost adult, even knowing that the reasons behind these beliefs and tradition might not be true, I still feel uncomfortable with the thought of disobeying it.
We were always told to preserve our tradition so that our culture and identity would be kept. People had passed down these habits from generations ago and it is our duty to do the same. But the world is so modern now, not all of our traditions are kept. Well, I'm a Chinese so I'm just gonna talk about our Chinese traditions.
I recently read two books by Lisa See about the lives of girls living in ancient China (She wrote quite a number of books about girls in ancient China). One of the most notable events in both books are the foot binding practice that girls go through at a young age. Chinese people from the past believe that girls with tiny feet are beautiful, and the more smaller it is, the more value a girl has. They'll go through extremes extend to achieve this, even if it means breaking bones and letting their foot rot.
There are so much more tradition and habits that really happened in ancient China and it all looks ridiculous now. Not that I disrespect my ancestors' ways of thinking, but it simply illogical and impossible for it to happen in today's world. For an example, now thanks to science, we know that a baby's gender depended on the father's sperm cell, not the mother's ovum. Oh, imagine if we traveled through time and told my ancestors about this, they'll go crazy, because during their lives, they believed a girl being born was the mother's fault.
It is also impossible to keep these traditions alive because most of the time, women are treated poorly in these traditions and are in the favor of men. Now with the increasing amount of feminists (or feminazis), there are just no way that these strong women will allow such practice to continue.
In a way, I'm thankful that these practices and traditions are no longer valid because if they are, I'll have to start binding my foot at the age of four, get married out to a stranger at the age of 16 and my duty is only to give birth to sons. We have so much freedom these days, but in the end we sacrificed our ancestor's way of living. And it might be a good thing too.
The most popular tradition still kept by the Chinese today is the reunion dinner on CNY eve. It's the perfect reason to gather all family members together and have a meal. It's even more useful today because people these days go overseas for studies or work and they rarely get the chance to spend time with their family. According to tradition, we're supposed to cook our own meals in our own home and everyone will sit around a round table and dine in together.
But this year, I had my reunion dinner at a restaurant. Although the intention is there, we're not following the exact tradition anymore. I also heard some families who have their reunion dinner the day before CNY eve or on the first day of CNY itself. It might seem like a minor problem, but we're already slowly changing tradition in our favor of our modern lives.
Fireworks and firecrackers are used to chase away evil spirits in CNY but they are banned in Malaysia. Not everyone wear red on the first day of CNY anymore and not every Chinese visit the temple to pray for good luck. Our traditions just doesn't apply that much on our lives anymore.
I'm not a religious person and my family doesn't pray to the Gods. We're already ending the traditions and practices related to religion with my family and it will be even worse when I have my own kids. That is, provided that my mother-in-law is just as not religious as me. Please don't curse me for generations, dear ancestors.
In a way, it is sad that traditions are slowly dying. Not because we purposely want them to die, but we just can't keep the practice anymore because of our ever changing lives and maybe, because we just don't care anymore. And yes, laziness. Yeap, it is just that sad.
Well, this year's CNY was like the usual. As I grow up it I don't really get the festive feeling anymore but I'm okay with that. But I had fun going back to my hometown and it's wonderful to spend time with my family and relatives.
Right now as I'm typing, fireworks are exploding in the sky because the Hokkien people are celebrating the ninth day of CNY (Bai Tian Gong). Somehow it feels like it's noisier than the first day of CNY.
Oh well, Happy Goat Year.
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