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Moon Cakes, Knotting, and Feng Shui: A Peek of Chinese Culture in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
By Jun Zou
Folk Arts and Fine Arts
Music and Dance
Feng Shui
Traditional Festivals and Foods, Family Values, Conclusion
Traditional Festivals and Foods, Family Values, Conclusion
The Baton Rouge Chinese community celebrates four key festivals each year: the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Duan Wu Festival, and the Moon Festival. These festivals follow the lunar calendar, so their dates vary on the western calendar. Each festival is strongly associated with specific foods.
Spring Festival is the biggest festival for any Chinese community since it is the celebration of Chinese New Year. Lasting 15 days, it starts on the first day and lasts to the 15th day of the first month of the year according to the Chinese lunar calendar, which means that the holiday usually falls on the second (or very rarely the third) new moon after the winter solstice. On the western calendar, it may fall between January 21 and February 20. However, Spring Festival does not mark the start of spring. In traditional Chinese culture, the start of spring (called Li Chun) occurs about February 4 and the festival marks the height of the season.
Spring festival is the time for family reunions. In the old days, there is a family dinner on the New Year's Eve. Then children would stay awake for the whole night of New Year Eve to wait for the first dawn of the New Year. The young generation would kneel down in front of their elders, and the elders would usually distribute hong bao, a red pocket containing small amount money called ya shui qian or "new year money," to kids as the New Year gift. Chinese immigrants to the United States are not always able to follow all the rules because of scheduling conflicts and the impossibility of having a family reunion since more family members are back in China. Often friends and their families get together to share a big meal, and make telephone calls to greet distant relatives around midnight of the New Year's Eve, or the next morning. In Baton Rouge, some Chinese groups cooperatively produce shows for the community. In 2007 the Boar Year, the New Year celebration and show at LSU Union Theatre was a joint effort of all major Chinese groups. It was considered a major success. In addition, many of these groups, including Chinese Friendship Association, the Chinese Association, and the two Chinese churches, organize dinner parties separately around the New Year's Day.
Spring Festival is associated with four foods, including jiao zi (dumplings), "nian gao" (New Year Cake), yu (fish), and ji (tangerine). As the shape of jiao zi resembles ancient gold and silver ingots or a crescent moon, it symbolizes the hope for a year of plenty. Traditional jiao zi is made by wrapping a meat of vegetable filling in dough and is served with vinegar and soy sauce. In Mandarin Chinese, "nian" means year, and gao is a homonym for "high," thus nian gao symbolizes progress and promotion at work and in daily life, and improvement in life year by year. Nian gao is a sweet, sticky, white or brown cake made from sticky rice flour and sugar. It can be fried, steamed, or boiled and served with sugar. "Yu" means fish and, in Mandarin Chinese, is a homonym for "surplus" or "more," so eating fish symbolizes a lot of savings for each year. Usually, Chinese serve whole fish to symbolize family unity. They point the head of the fish to the most respected family member, usually the grandfather or grandmother. Finally, ji (tangerine) is very popular because in Chinese "ji" means "good luck."
The lantern festival on the 15th of the first lunar month marks the end of celebrations of the New Year. It is most associated with yuan xiao, a small dumpling ball made of sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing and round in shape. It is a must for the Lantern Festival, symbolizing family unity, completeness, and happiness.
The Duan Wu Festival, also referred to as the Dragon Boat Festival or Double Fifth Day, is on the 5th of the fifth lunar month. On the western calendar, it usually falls in June. While many stories regarding its origin abound, the most popular and widely accepted version regards Qu Yuan, a minister during the Warring States Period (475 - 221 BC). From that time to this day, people commemorate Qu Yuan through Dragon Boat Races, eating zong zi and several other activities, on the anniversary of his death: the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. While there are no dragon boat races held in Baton Rouge, the Chinese community eats zong zi, a sticky rice ball, with a filling, wrapped in bamboo or reed leaf that is generally steamed. The fillings can be egg, beans, dates, fruits, sweet potato, walnuts, mushrooms, meat, or a combination.
The Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. On the western calendar, it falls in mid or late September. Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for Chinese. Traditionally, farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date, similar to Thanksgiving in the United States. This is also a day for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. There is a beautiful Chinese legend associated with the Moon Festival. Legend says that Chang Er, one of the most beautiful figures in Chinese literature, flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. Legend says that you might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. Each year in Baton Rouge, the Chinese Friendship Association and the Chinese Association organize gatherings or parties during Moon Festival. Most families also purchase yue bing, or moon cakes, to eat that night when the moon rises. Their shape, usually is round, symbolizes family reunion.
Chinese Family Values
The Baton Rouge Chinese community has preserved Chinese family values that center on the Confucian concept or notion of xiao, or filial piety. As one of the most important ingredients of Chinese tradition, filial piety permeates Chinese culture and actively influences family structure and the patterns of daily life. It, in turn, becomes a vehicle to pass the culture and traditions from one generation to the next, from one place to another.
In general, parents have authority over their children, even when the children are grown and financially viable. In ancient China, it is usual for all family members on the father's side to live together, and the ones positioned higher on the family tree would theoretically have higher authority over those positioned lower. Nowadays, although it is hard to keep family members all living together, adult couples still consider their parents as part of the family and not just part of their extended family. As a result, they carry the responsibility of taking care of their parents as seriously as taking care of their children.
As a big family, each family member has a name according to his/her relationship to others in addition to their first and last name and these names indicate seniority and the relationship. For example, in Chinese, one's mother's brother is called jiujiu, whereas one's father's brother is called baibai.
All interviewed families consider filial piety to be their most respected moral protocol, and they feel that this would not change whether they are in China or in North America. One said, "We support our parents who still live in China. In Chinese traditions, it is the next generation's responsibility to take care of their parents." Another said, "We believe …life is a circle, we will get old in one day and our kids may support us also." In Baton Rouge, it is not uncommon to see three generations living under one roof, where grandparents were invited from abroad to stay for an extended period time, ranging from half a year to a couple of years, in order to enjoy the company and filial piety of the children and grandchildren.
Conclusion
Clearly, the Chinese community has been very successful in maintaining many of their traditions and cultural characteristics. While individuals have different professions in the society, what is common is that all families are making maximum efforts in passing on Chinese language, traditions, culture, and values to the next generation. The unique Chinese traditions and cultural characteristics not only harmonically coexist with mainstream Louisiana but also complement and positively contribute to Louisiana's cultural, social, and economic landscape.
Jun Zou teaches interior design at Louisiana State University and has been in the United States since 2003. One of her research specialties is the Chinese aesthetic in interior design. She did this research as part of the New Populations Project.
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