Lucky food for Spring Festival and their symbolism

Chinese New Year was celebrated on 28 January, and celebrations for the Spring Festival continue for another week. Certain dishes are eaten during the Chinese New Year celebrations for their symbolic meaning, and the lucky food is served during the 16-day festival, as it is believed to bring good luck for the coming year.

It is not just the food themselves, but also the preparation and way of serving the food which carries a lot of meaning. Have a look below at the foods to eat during your celebration of Spring Festival.

Fish – An increase in prosperity

In Chinese, fish sounds like ‘surplus’. Chinese people like to have a surplus at the end of the year, as if they have saved something at the end, they can make more in the following year. The fish chosen to be eaten at New Year and throughout the Spring Festival is based on promising homophonics (how the word sounds). For example, eating crucian carp is considered to bring good luck as the first character sounds like the Chinese for ‘good luck'. Or, eating catfish, which sounds like ‘year surplus’, is a wish for a surplus throughout the year.

When eating fish, it should always be the last one left, with some left over. The fish should also be placed towards any distinguished guests or elders, representing respect, and other diners can only enjoy the fish after the one facing the fish eats first.

Spring rolls – Wealth

Spring rolls get their name because they are traditionally eaten during the Spring Festival. It is a popular dish in eastern China, often a Cantonese dim sum dish full of vegetables, meat, oriental spices or even something sweet wrapped in thin pastry and fried. A lucky saying about spring rolls would translate as ‘A tonne of gold’ because the fried spring rolls with their golden-yellow colour look like gold bars. Eating these throughout the Spring Festival celebrations is a wish for prosperity and is symbol of wealth in the coming year.

Dumplings – Wealth

Dumplings have a history of over 1800 years and are considered a classic Chinese food. Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during the New Year celebrations, the more money you can make in the year. Generally consisting of minced meat and finely chopped vegetables wrapped in a thin and elastic dough skin, popular ingredients to include are minced pork, diced shrimp, fish, ground chicken, beef and vegetables. They can be cooked by boiling, steaming, frying or baking.

Tangyuan (sweet rice balls) – Family togetherness

Sweet rice balls are the main food for China’s Lantern Festival, but in south China, people eat them throughout the Spring Festival. The pronunciation and round shape of tangyuan are associated with reunion and being together, which is why they are a favourite food to eat during the New Year celebrations.

Niangao (glutinous rice cake) – A higher income or position

In Chinese, glutinous rice cake sounds like it means ‘getting higher year-on-year’, meaning the higher you are the more prosperous your business and it is a general improvement in life. It can also imply children’s height, better grades in studying or a promotion in work. The main ingredients of Niangao are sticky rice, sugar, chestnuts, Chinese dates and lotus leaves. Find out more about rice cakes here.

Good fortune fruit – Fullness and wealth

Particular fruits are eaten during Spring Festival such as pomelos, tangerines or oranges. These are chosen as they are round and golden in colour, symbolising fullness and wealth. Not only eating, but displaying tangerines and oranges in the home is believed to bring good luck and fortune due to their pronunciation, or even writing. The Chinese for orange sounds like ‘success’ and one of the ways of writing tangerine contains the character for luck. The other citrus fruit pomelo is thought to bring continuous prosperity, and the more you eat the more wealth it will bring.

Longevity noodles – Happiness and longevity

Longevity noodles are symbolic for longevity – unsurprisingly. Their length is symbolic for the eater’s life. They are longer than normal noodles and uncut, and either fried and served on a plate or boiled then served in a bowl with some flavoured broth.