Red Letter Days

There are trips to the bank for crisp, untouched dollar bills; shopping excursions for new clothes; and ingredients for banh chung. Kitchens have been scrubbed until they shine and plans laid to make sure the first visitor after midnight on Friday is someone lucky.

Blending ancient traditions with modern interpretations, families throughout Orange County are celebrating the most important holiday of the year in Asian cultures: the lunar new year. Two weeks of festivities begin with Friday’s new moon and last until the full moon, Feb. 23.

It is the beginning of the year 4,695 on the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Ox, one of 12 animal symbols that rule each calendar year. The ox signifies that those who work hard and put their shoulders to the yoke will be rewarded with success.

The holiday is full of symbols to pave the way for a year of health and wealth--the colors red and gold, round-shaped foods such as melons and dumplings--and, to scare away evil spirits, the noise of firecrackers and cymbals.

Catherine Yee Schwartz of Huntington Beach, who grew up in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, says the new year holiday is her favorite.

The 38-year-old remembers watching the loud and colorful dragon dances, opening pretty red and gold envelopes filled with dollar bills, eating special home-cooked dishes and visiting with members of her extended family.

“People want to go back to their roots and find out who they are and what it means to be Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean. We need something our children can enjoy from our cultural background,” says Schwartz, who is serving as event coordinator of the Asian Festival at Westminster Mall, a celebration featuring Asian music, theater, art and dance that continues through Feb. 16.

“It’s a time of a lot of family gatherings, usually centered around food,” Schwartz says. Many also usher in the new year with religious services, visits to cemeteries to honor ancestors and gift exchanges.

“Everyone wants to look their best, feel their best and be on their best behavior [during the festival], because everything you do determines your fate for the coming year,” says Kristine Pham, editor of Vietnow Magazine in Irvine.

The holiday is rich in symbolic ritual. Certain precautions and traditions are observed, lest one bring misfortune upon oneself and others.

“You’re very careful about the house you visit. You don’t want to be considered bad luck,” Pham says. “If you’re unemployed, you don’t want to be the first person in the door on New Year’s. Someone who has just had a baby or who is wealthy is welcomed in first. You may want to call and ask if it’s OK to visit.”

People clean their homes not only because company’s coming but also to keep from offending the Kitchen God, who will bring them luck in return for their good housekeeping. They display bowls of fruit, especially oranges and tangerines, which symbolize abundance.

Vietnamese call their New Year’s celebration Tet, short for “Tet Nguyen-Dan” which means “first day.” Women wear ao dai, the traditional Vietnamese tunic-style gowns, to parties and festivals. Families enjoy a special food called banh chung, usually made of beans, sticky rice and pork.

“There are all sorts of colorful goodies; every [Vietnamese] supermarket will have them on display,” Pham says.

Taiwanese celebrations call for decorating with water lilies and eating plums. Chinese meals include dried oysters, sea moss, raw lettuce and gold-colored fruits such as kumquats. Cooks prepare two of everything--one for the family and one to offer up for good luck.

People wear their best clothes during the holiday. Many sport red and gold and other bright hues.

Young people receive lucky money from their elders. The fresh dollar bills come in special red envelopes with gold lettering called li xi.

“It’s new money. You don’t want to give someone old money,” Pham says.

Some Orange County banks make sure they have a ready supply of uncirculated bills and often provide the envelopes.

“Banks in Garden Grove and Westminster request brand new money from the Treasury months in advance. They have hundreds of thousands of untouched money on hand, and they sit on it until grandmothers, uncles and aunts come and request it,” says Stephanie Greene, marketing director of Westminster Mall.

The Westminster Mall has incorporated the tradition of li xi; the mall will give away about $2,000 in new $1 bills to children attending the festival on weekends.

Last year, the mall’s first Asian Festival drew about 500,000 people.

The mall festival will feature a traditional Vietnamese dragon performed by the Tien Hoang Dragon Team of Westminster High on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Other new year’s festivals and parades are taking place in Garden Grove and Westminster.

“There are lots of parties going on everywhere,” Schwartz says. “It’s the happiest, most festive time for families.”