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| Variant Cover by Bernard Chang |
I have been fairly Americanized, but I pick up on things from my parents, who immigrated in the 80s'. We set the table with traditional food like steamed chicken, roast pork, Chinese cupcakes (not sure what these are called), fat choy (hair-like black noodle), and other delectable goodies. We pour rice vinegar into different cups and offer the food to our deceased ancestors, praying for good fortune and prosperity. We light incense around the home to pay respects.
The fat choy is a long and wavy noodle (technically a bacterium), meant to represent the length of our wealth. We're not supposed to wash our hair on New Year's Day, lest we wash off the luck for the entire year! And we must wear new clothes on New Year's Day, symbolizing the start of a new year and forgetting the misfortunes of the previous. One of my favorite dishes is a fermented black bean dish, which goes beautifully with rice.
The lion dance is a traditional dance to ring in the new year, where men in masks lead a lion to eat a ball of food representing wealth and good fortune. To see this integral part of my life represented in comic book form, one of my favorite media of entertainment, is very gratifying.
Gong xi fa cai (恭喜发财)! Happy New Year!
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