It is only fitting that mere weeks after making -- and then breaking -- my first New Years' resolutions, I get an opportunity to try again. Let's hear it for Chinese New Year, or, as it is better known, the Lunar Festival or the Spring Festival. But, with Snowy clouds covering our Edmonton moon, and frigid temperatures smothering anything spring, Chinese New Year it will be.
We had been looking forward to beginning this new tradition, a way to keep our family connected to Maylia's culture, and a way to keep Maylia connected to an important part of her identity and history. I wanted to celebrate it in a simple but meaningful way and read what I could about it. After reading on line and speaking with friends who also celebrate it, I concluded that Chinese New Year was really about 3 things : Food, Family & Fun.
And so with that code of cultural conduct in mind we set out to do just that. Because we hadn't had a Shipley get together in a while we invited Todd's parents and siblings to join us on Saturday( those siblings who lived close enough to come). WalMart supplied the decorations, and Costco most of the food. We totalled 23, thanks to Ryah who had been born earlier that week. All the kids had a great time together -- though you wouldn't know it because as the hostess, I forgot to delegate photography duties. We ate, drank and made merry, and had about as many appetizers as we had people. We definitely put the 'Fat' in Kung Hei Fat Choy!
Just like I've tried to do at Christmas, every year we'll try to add a little more to the celebrations -- (maybe a MahJong tournament?! )And because of where we are fortunate to live, that should be easily done.
What a blessing to live in a country, a city -- and more especially, a family and church community where Maylia won't ever be far from that important part of her. Edmonton is one of many cities in Canada with a thriving Chinese culture. Even the Muttart conservatory's show pyramid is dedicated to The Year of the Horse. Edmonton Public Schools has received international acclaim for their Chinese Language Programs, with instruction at the elementary, Jr. High and High School levels -- one of which conveniently located across the street from us. Edmonton's Confucius Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Chinese culture and language has also been recognized for the second time in 3 years for outstanding innovation in Chinese language education. http://confuciusedmonton.ca
Amongst our friends and our church community we are no less blessed. We have friends who are Chinese and friends who have served Chinese speaking missions. Most recently the church has placed several Mandarin speaking missionaries here and the church itself has even developed a website for Chinese nationals who join the church outside of China. http://www.mormonsandchina.org
But it is perhaps in our own family where our connections to China are even more remarkable. A few years ago, when we first began the adoption process we had begun the application for Thailand. With Todd speaking Thai from his missionary service there, the visits we had enjoyed to that country --( not to mention he great food!), to adopt from Thailand seemed like a natural fit . A couple of years later, when the Thailand program folded and we switched our application to China, we quickly realized that we had an even greater connection to that great country:
- Both Todd's Dad and my uncle served their missions in Hong Kong
- Todd's parents served another mission in China, teaching English in Beijing and delivering wheelchairs as part of the church's humanitarian efforts
- Another of my uncles married ( his second wife) who was from China; they had a child, a daughter , who now lives in California.
- Perhaps most extraordinarily, 40 years ago my grandparents themselves adopted a little girl here in Alberta -- herself 1/2 Chinese. Her and her husband now have 4 children. One of their sons served a mission to Taiwan, came home and married a Chinese girl and they have a darling daughter of their own.
I spoke with my grandmother recently about all of this and she said had been speaking to my grandfather about the very same thing. " When we were growing up" she said, " the only Chinese people we knew were the ones who owned a local restaurant and some friends we had met in Hawaii. Then, when we were starting our family, never in our wildest dreams did we ever think that we ourselves would be blessed with these wonderful Chinese grandchildren and great-grandchildren. "
In some ways it feels like we've come full circle, with my grandparents adopting in one generation and we adopting in another one. Perhaps that circle can best be represented by another Chinese tradition or philosophy rather : the Yin-Yang, or 'seemingly opposite or contrary forces' which are in fact 'interconnected and interdependent'.
If it's true that " Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary (instead of opposing) forces interacting to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the parts, " then our little Maylia Wei Yang, completes and connects our family, our Yin, together. She is the sunny side that lights and delights our Shipley shade. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang She's the one that makes our family whole.
Now that's a tradition worth celebrating.
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