How a 4-generation Singaporean family keeps the "Tet spirit"
While some young families may find it fashionable to travel abroad for the New Year, for the Low family, Tet is a time for family reunions. Family members take turns visiting Mrs Tan, who lives with a maid in a three-room apartment in Whampoa.
Tan Kim Yoke, 88, is waiting to eat a hot bowl of longevity noodles this Lunar New Year. For at least 60 years, her family has maintained a tradition of eating salty noodles (mee sua) on the first day of the Lunar New Year.Tetannual.
This year, the first day of Tet falls on February 16.
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"For me, it is important to keep this tradition from generation to generation," Madam Tan said. "I am sure my children and grandchildren will continue to do so after I am gone," the Straits Times quoted her as saying.
Normally, Mrs Tan would be responsible for cooking the longevity noodles. However, 30 years ago, and until now, her second daughter, Dora Low, has taken over the role. "We served the noodles with boiled eggs. My mother used to tell me that peeling the eggshells is like throwing away all the bad things and keeping only the good things," said Mrs Low, now retired.
However, Mrs. Low's noodles are different from her mother's in one way. She uses chicken instead of pig stomach, because pig stomach is difficult to clean.
For Adeline Low, 36, Tan's granddaughter, the old taste is what she misses most. "I call it 'grandma's taste'. I don't know why, but it always makes me feel comfortable and brings back old memories. Only grandma knows how to clean the pig's stomach so it doesn't smell bad."
Mrs. Tan has seven children, 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, the youngest of whom is three years old. Her family has passed down many New Year traditions from generation to generation, sometimes creating new versions.
“It’s not easy because things are so different now than they were before. But we still want the kids to understand and appreciate the meaning of certain things,” said Adeline Low, who has two daughters, aged three and five.
One tradition the Low family still maintains, with a few tweaks, is wearing new clothes to celebrate the new year.
In the past, Mrs. Tan used to sew new clothes for her husband and children on a Singer sewing machine, recalls her daughter, Dora. "She used the same fabric but made different styles for each person. The dresses she made seemed to be for parties."
Today, the Low family still maintains this tradition, but most of the new clothes are bought from stores rather than made themselves.
Adeline Low said that when she was a child, she always looked forward to Tet because she could wear new clothes instead of using old clothes she inherited. However, her children now do not have the same joy from new clothes as their mother.
"My mother-in-law buys the children new clothes almost every day, so they don't enjoy it anymore." However, Adeline Low said that this year the whole family will wear red for the New Year. "It's a way to respect the elders, who believe that bright clothes are lucky."
Visits take place every day for 15 days.the first day of Tet.