Chinese New Year

On Tuesday I attended another course at Payap University Life-Long Learning Center. We were to learn about the Chinese New Year, which falls on February 10. The speaker was a Chinese man who has lived in Chiang Mai for some years. His translator was a lively young woman who is a student at the university, studying Thai language and culture. She did a great job (I guess, since I understand no Chinese).

We learned that the festival goes over a number of days, leading up to New Year's Eve, this year on February 9. From the 10th on there are many customs, including passing out red envelopes of money to children. In China, a seven-day holiday begins on New Year's Day. Many of the countries around Southeast Asia celebrate it as well, because of large populations of Chinese ethnicity.

2024 is the year of the Dragon, one of twelve zodiac animals. I learned I was born in the year of the Monkey. Not sure what that means about me!!

Speaker and translator

After the presentation, which was about a half hour, we were invited to help make dumplings, a traditional new year's food. The dough had been prepared ahead of time, and when I arrived early for the session, the cooks were chopping ingredients for the filling -- pork, Chinese chives, ginger, and more. It was not spicy.

Rolling out the dough

Translator showing the filling that had been prepared

Everyone worked to fill the circles of dough with the filling and pinch them tightly closed

There was a large steamer and several batches were made. I had one and it was tasty. I left soon after that to meet my ride back to our place.