In early February, I got to experience Chinese New Years for the first time. This may be very surprising to some since I am in Malaysia, not China. However, Malaysia is actually an extremely diverse country. There are three main ethnicities in the country, Indian, Malay, and Chinese, and each culture is prominent. For instance, each major holiday for each culture is given a similar amount of time off from school. This is a stark contrast from America, where we mainly only get off Christian holidays. I have been amazed again and again how the malls transform to match whatever holiday seemingly overnight. During Diwali, an Indian holiday, the entrances were adorned with lights and paisleys and during Chinese New Year the same doors are covered in pigs and red lanterns, making it look like you are entering an entirely different place. In America the culture is to be respectful of other cultures by decorating without any specific holiday in mind. Here, each holiday is decorated very specifically and schools teach everyone about the traditions of the specific holiday. This has been one of my favorite things about being in Malaysia, getting to experience three vastly different cultures constantly. For Chinese New Years, my program placed me with a Chinese family since I am usually with a Malay family. I learned how I needed to wear new clothes on the first day of Chinese New Year, how to say “gong xi fa cai” when entering a relatives house, and that fireworks are definitely necessary every single night from 11pm to 12 am. The emphasis of being with family was a prominent takeaway from the week I spent with this temporary family. It seemed to be that the time was a reason to see everyone that one might not be able to see other times of the year. I could not help but smile when I saw how happy this family was to go from house to house, hugging uncles, aunts, cousins, and siblings, and exclaiming about how much they have changed. Being away from home, seeing these familial relationships remind me of how special they are especially because I have been away from mine for so long. It also gave me a great appreciation for all of the amazing people here who have allowed me to partake in their family traditions and open their lives to a stranger. This Chinese New Year, not only did I experience a totally new tradition filled with exchanges of oranges and ang pow (a monetary gift given during this time to the children of the family), but I was also reminded of the beauty of Malaysian culture and the kindness of those who I am surrounded with, and I am eternally thankful.
Then, last week I got to celebrate the ending of Chinese New Year with my cohort by watching the Chingay parade in the center of Johor Bahru. Harnoor, the other American, is exponentially better at explaining what Chingay is so here is his explanation from his Malaysian instagram:
Chingay, a parade held annually on the 21st day of the Lunar New Year, celebrates the birthdays of the five Chinese deities and allows the five main Chinese clans (Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakka, Hoklo, and Teochew) to show a symbol of unity. Flag bearers run with flags nearly 30 feet tall and floats associated with each dirty follow. The state of Johor in isn a unique position to host this event as it is one of the few places where all five dirties are located under the same roof, a tribute to its diverse history.
Go follow him at malaysianmann, he has great descriptions about a lot of the cultural activists that we do here. When we first got downtown, we had to walk a few kilometers since the entire area was basically blocked off, or at least our grab driver did not want to try to get us any farther lol. When we were walking we passed the Johor Zoo and got way too excited about seeing animals from the gates. I liked the walk a lot because it reminded me of walking around different cities with my family when we are on vacation. Arriving at the main location where Harnoor, Alberto, Carlo, and I were going to meet Harnoor’s host family, we found a lot of food and drink stands lining the streets and music. I had not seen anything like it in Malaysia before and the energy surrounding the entire event was so fun. As we waited for the parade to begin, Harnoor introduced me to this pancake filled with crushed peanuts and corn, which was actually really good. I was a bit apprehensive at first to try it because it kind of looked a bit too chunky for comfort, throwback to when Alberto threw up at Thaipusam, but it was very delicious. We also got satay for only 89 cents per stick! To translate, that is about 22 American cents per stick. What a deal! Then, the parade started and we were all amazed by the different dancers, drummers, and flag bearers. We were standing by this truck filled with a group of people who would call out to the flag bearers to take the flag and balance it on his forehead. It was a lot of fun to yell with them and then wildly clap when the flag bearer submitted to the request. The parade was even more special because we got to experience it with our German volunteers that also live in Johor Bahru with us. There schedule tends not to match up with ours so we do not always get to go to cultural events with them, so I was pretty excited to spend this one with them. Emma and Lorena are always fun to talk to, they also made coming back memorable when we had to fit seven people in a five person vehicle. Let’s just say that Alberto was not happy to be the seat of Carlo.
As I stay here longer in Malaysia, many of the culture events that I have attended have become even more special because I am surrounded by these people that I love. For a lot of these traditions, it is about being close to people you love, such as Chinese New Years or Pongal. Being away from home, I can not be close to my family during these events. However, I now have my Johor family including my Germans, Italians, Harnoor, my host family, and all of their host families who I love to be around as well. For me, they make it ten times better, because I can relate to the concept of being with those you love during the festival or traditional holiday better.
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