恭喜發財！

Contrary to popular belief (of friends for whom I am the token Chinese friend), I am not stuffing my face with tikoy, surrounding by delighted relatives in red.

My participation in these Lunar New Year events are very minimal and un-Chinese. We don’t have doting Chinese grandparents imposing these traditions on us, so we skip out on the festivities and expenses.

But today, we all did work downstairs at the office and had lunch together. There is nothing more Filipino-Chinese than the hustle of working for the family business.

I do love the stories accompanying Chinese holidays. Chang’e and her rabbit on the moon, the magpies helping the cowherd and the fairy meet up….

The Lunar New Year’s story is about a rat race (heh) instituted by the Lord of Heaven. The rat wins the race by betrayal. It doesn’t wake the cat on time to run the race, which is why they will forever be enemies. It allies itself with the ox, only to jump ahead to the finish line. I think it says a lot about the Chinese psyche that the first animal of the Zodiac is a tiny rat.

I do wish everyone good health and good fortune this year. May the moon watch us closely and shine brightly on all of us.