Yesterday was Malaysia's 49th Merdeka Day (Independence Day), and naturally, a public holiday. Cindy's parents took the opportunity to make a day trip to their hometown, Port Dickson, to do what every proud Chinese grandparent would do: announce Hannah's one-month birthday!
Armed with packs of "goodies", they went round to houses of friends to distribute the gifts and announced the good news. The contents included: roasted chicken, nasi kunyit (yellow glutinous rice), curry chicken, hard-boiled egg dyed red, ang koo kueh (glutinous cakes with green bean paste filling) and pickled young ginger. Interestingly, the ang koo kueh is ball shaped for a male baby, and peach shaped for a female.
Hannah's Full Moon celebrations will culminate in a special lunch next weekend, hosted by Cindy's parents, and attended by close friends and extended family members. Although it all sounds rather extravagant, a shrewd mother pointed this out: the Chinese will never allow themselves to be on the losing end! A common returning gesture would be to give ang pow (red packets containing money) to Hannah, or gifts, including jewelry.
Of course, Hannah's grandparents are simply happy, excited and proud to show off our family's newest addition, and will not be balancing the accounts so calculatively.
Oh, I can see questions coming... what do all those different food represent? Hmm, I'm sure they have various auspiscious meanings, but that is totally lost on me. An online search may do the trick, but you will have to forgive this busy new mother for not doing her homework.
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