Qi Ruhong: Buying gifts and doing New Year's shopping

Qi Ruhong: Buying gifts and doing New Year's shopping Phoenix City Qi Ruhong After returning from a trip to London Bridge in Lake Havasu, relatives and friends mentioned a series of travel topics, and I found that living in Phoenix...

The atmosphere is like a rainbow: Buying gifts and doing new year's shopping Phoenix City The atmosphere is like a rainbow After returning from a trip to Lake Havasu and the London Bridge, relatives and friends mentioned a series of topics about tourism. I found that the people living in Phoenix often make the biggest mistake, mistakenly thinking that Arizona belongs to the desert. There are not many places worth visiting. This is not the case. Looking back on my various travel itineraries, it proves that our state is vast in scope, has a vast surrounding area, and tourist attractions are everywhere. As long as you pay attention to your choices, you don’t have to go to other states, but you can also travel within the state. This time, it is a popular time for people to talk about travel, because Christmas is coming, New Year is coming, and the consecutive holidays are a good season for travel. However, not everyone likes to travel. During the festival, many families invite relatives and friends to have a grand gathering. Instead, the main focus is on buying gifts, choosing what to buy, and who is the most suitable gift to give it to, which has reached the climax of the topic. For the Chinese and Vietnamese compatriots living in European and American countries, on the one hand, they integrate into mainstream society to celebrate Christmas, welcome the New Year, arrange to buy gifts, or prepare for trips to visit relatives. On the other hand, the traditional festivals of the nation are preserved, which are the winter and New Year celebrations of the lunar calendar. As the saying goes, "winter brings New Year celebrations," which our ancestors attached great importance to. However, the winter solstice always comes three days before Christmas, and is often overshadowed by the Christmas craze that welcomes the carnival, making spending the winter seem simple; only The Lunar New Year is the Spring Festival, usually between late January and the end of February in the Gregorian calendar, so there is plenty of time to carry out a series of activities for New Year's goods. Selling new year's goods to welcome the Spring Festival is different from buying gifts for Christmas. Christmas gifts are simple and usually given to a relative or friend, or to attend a party to exchange gifts. They can be high or low and easy to choose. Doing New Year's goods during the Lunar New Year is much more complicated. In addition to the routine gift-giving among relatives, you also need to buy tools to decorate the door of the house, decorate the hall objects, New Year's Eve reunion offerings, Spring Festival cooking recipes, worship the gods on New Year's Day, incense candles, and the New Year's Eve gifts, not to forget. Remember the winter plums and oranges all year round, the Spring Festival couplets, the lucky red envelopes, and the new firecrackers. Mr. Lin, it’s not that easy to arrange. Therefore, the Lunar New Year is not about buying gifts, but about making new year's goods. This "doing" is not simple, and many housewives complain of "headaches" when doing it. I grew up in southern Vietnam and did not immigrate to the United States until I was in my fifties. It can be said that the Vietnamese society in the past was deeply influenced by Chinese culture. The people also used the lunar calendar, and their festival customs were the same as those in China. There was no difference between the native Chinese and their compatriots from mainland China, and they would all celebrate the New Year happily. The last half of the year is a bustling period for selling New Year's goods, and it becomes even more lively after the kitchen is closed. At that time, the government of the Republic of Vietnam would set up New Year's goods stalls somewhere near the market or on pedestrian sections of prosperous streets whenever the New Year was approaching. Noisy. I remember that in early 1958, I was still in primary school in Panyu School. Because my family was poor, I had to work part-time as a school janitor to earn a meager salary to help cover family expenses. I was still struggling to make ends meet. That year, in order to welcome the New Year of 1898, my elder brother unexpectedly thought of setting up a New Year stall business. He applied for a stall near the entrance of Daguangming Lane on Tongqing Avenue in the Fifth County to sell shirts and pants. He worked in a glass factory and was responsible for purchasing after get off work. My mother and I took care of the stall. My mother is a disabled person, with a hunchback and difficulty walking, so she cannot do heavy work, so selling goods is not a problem. I am on the winter vacation from school, so I have some free time, so I can help with the business. I can store the goods at Panyu school in the evening when the market closes. That year, I concentrated on selling New Year's goods stalls, and I also observed all kinds of dynamics of people selling New Year's goods. Some were generous and generous, some were frugal, some bought according to their ability, and some just strolled around without buying. All kinds of things were visible at a panoramic view. Since then, I have no longer operated in the New Year market, nor have I stayed at the New Year stalls for so long, because more than three months after the Spring Festival of 1898, my mother was bedridden and passed away. At that time, some neighbors blamed my brother and accused him of arranging a street stall selling New Year goods, which made my mother exhausted from hard work. It is possible, but what can be done? It is mainly caused by the poverty of the family. That was sixty years ago. Every time when I was doing New Year's shopping at the end of the year, I would recall this little history. While sighing, I also felt comforted. At least, my generation has endured the hardships and has not affected my children. They don't know what it's like to be poor, which is a good thing. Look! If you live in the United States, in Arizona, or in Phoenix, when the New Year is approaching, you can still register to take a bus to other states to do New Year shopping! Published in Phoenix American Newspaper on Friday, December 15, 2017