Welcoming the Lunar New Year

Photos: Michelle Lee

February 1st, 2022 marks the first day of Iminnyeon — the year of the black tiger — which comes back around after 60 years in the zodiac cycle. “Im” means black, “in” means tiger and “nyeon” means year.

Many Asian countries around the world celebrate Lunar New Year — China, Vietnam, South Korea, Tibet, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Cambodia. Each country has their own set of unique traditions.

Koreans celebrate by dressing in hanbok, paying respects to our elders, receiving seh beh don (new year money) and eating ddukguk (rice cake soup) and mandu (dumplings).

For Koreans, this Lunar New Year tradition dates to the Joseon dynasty (which lasted from 1392 to 1897). The earliest records showed dduk (rice cake) and ddukguk being served on Seolnal (the first lunar new year day) to represent a bright and clean start to the New Year.

Rice cakes were formed by soaking the grains overnight in water, grinding them into a fine powder and shaping them into long, cylindrical batons. The round shape of the rice cakes represented the sun and the long tube-like cylinders symbolized continued wealth.

Here in Weston, friends gathered to assemble homemade dumplings while ddukguk simmered on the stove. The conversation gave light to the fact that dumplings, the perfect bite-sized morsel, were found in almost every culture: pierogies, gyozas, samosas, empanadas, knodels.

In Korea, mandu respresented a pouch of blessings and because of the time and effort it took to make mandu, it also represented an act of care — feeding loved ones with blessings.

Koreans brought these 600 years of traditions with them when they first came over to Hawaii in 1903. Between 1905 and 1949, 175,000 Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States. From the late 1800s to 1900, nearly 12 million immigrants arrived in the U.S. — mostly from Germany, Ireland, and England. Everyone brought their version of a delicious dumpling.

For this new year, in Weston, let’s all share the lovely differences in our version of a dumpling and celebrate the Year of the Tiger with a roar! Happy New Year!

From left to right, Nick Vranos, Soon Hyouk Lee, Dominique Vranos, Diana Toro, Natalie Ponte

Left, Martin Mohabeer making dumplings and right, with Soon Hyouk Lee