The air of Phoenix City is like a rainbow: the celebration of the full moon

The air of the Phoenix City is like a rainbow: the celebration of the full moon. First left: the air is like a rainbow. My grandson, Long, is full moon. I have a strong sense of nationality and value my family’s traditional customs and habits...

First left: Qi is like a rainbow. Grandson Long is one month old. I have a strong sense of nationality and value my family’s traditional customs and habits, so I must hold a full-moon ceremony. After the birth of a grandson, many relatives and friends took the opportunity to celebrate Christmas and New Year to congratulate him on his grandson's birth. Some of them were from other states and had no plans to come, so they sent congratulations early. They were happy but also felt embarrassed. Pu Lu Yuqiang, a literary friend who lives in Los Angeles, read my book "A Wish Comes True" and specially composed a poem to celebrate the birth of his grandson. He is full of affection and deeply grateful! The congratulatory poem is as follows: Shize's family has a good reputation, and the sun descends at the right time. The cry is unusually loud at the first try, and it must have been predicted by a prodigy. When the grandson is one month old, according to the custom of his hometown, he would use red eggs, roasted pork, sour ginger slices and Sansheng fruits to express his gratitude to the gods and the bedside mother (also called the bedside mother, commonly known as the bedside mother in the village of Datianzhuang, Panyu County, Guangdong Province), praying that the baby would be safe and healthy, well-behaved and obedient, and grow up quickly. I don't pay attention to other people's ridicule of superstition. I firmly believe that there are gods at the top of my head. If there are rules, you can't reduce them, and if there are no rules, you can't add them. I advise my daughters-in-law that many traditional customs should be believed to exist and be carried out as usual. Anyway, it won't cause any serious problems. This time to celebrate the birth of a grandson, I insisted on holding a full-month celebration. I also wanted to celebrate on a lunar date according to the past customs, but after careful consideration, the birth of my grandson was very special. It was on December 12, 2012, 12/12/12 in the Gregorian calendar. It was an overlapping day that only happens once in a century. It was such a coincidence. It was God's wish and it was in line with the expectations of his parents. It coincided with the wedding date of his son Guofeng and Qiong Yao. At that time, he adopted a new idea of the 21st century and chose the auspicious day of 11/11/11 on the solar calendar to hold the wedding ceremony. This kind of date only occurs once in a century and is extremely precious. By God's will, the date of my grandson's birth was so coincidental that we decided to hold the full moon celebration on January 12, 2013. I further proposed that since the baby was born on the twelfth day of the third month and the full moon was on the twelfth day of January, then twelve would become a lucky number. Chinese people have always been very affectionate towards the twelve. There are twelve zodiac signs, twelve earthly branches, twelve months, twelve hours. Foreigners have twelve numbers, such as a dozen, etc., so they decided to have twelve banquets and never increase or decrease them. In the past, in Vietnam, relatives and friends would send congratulatory gifts to babies before they were one month old. In the past, gold was cheap, and people usually bought gold rings, gold bracelets, and gold necklaces as gifts. On the day of the full moon, babies would appear in front of relatives and friends wearing gold and silver, shining with gold, to show that they had received the congratulatory gifts. Families with financial permission will definitely hold a banquet to reward relatives and friends. The well-off people will prepare a few dishes at home and simply entertain guests; the wealthy families will arrange a big banquet in a restaurant and send out invitations with the words "Prepare ginger wine and look forward to your visit." For the poorer people, the ceremony is simple, and gift packs of red eggs, roasted pork and sour ginger slices are distributed to relatives, friends and neighbors, which also expresses gratitude. This time, the grandson's full moon happened to be on a Saturday, which was convenient for all the relatives and friends who attended the banquet, and it was also convenient for the new father. Because after celebrating the son's full moon, school would resume classes next week, and he could teach without worrying about the banquet to reward relatives and friends. The time was perfectly coordinated. As originally planned, on the occasion of the second month of the month, a ginger drink was arranged to celebrate, and a banquet was held for twelve tables at Luk Fook Restaurant in Phoenix City. In the evening of that day, my husband and I brought red eggs and sour ginger slices to the restaurant earlier, preparing to distribute them at the table. When we arrived at the scene, we saw that the Luk Fook Hall was half-way apart, and there were twelve seats arranged in the auditorium. The queen took a look, and wow! Full house! Red eggs and sour ginger slices have already been arranged at every table, smiling to welcome the guests, lying proudly on the plate with a red light, as if they are laughing at me, grandpa and grandma, for wasting all their efforts! Soon, the in-laws Ma Shaowen and his wife came. They were honored as grandparents and specially cooked two pots of hometown-style chicken wine for their grandson Miyue for relatives and friends to taste. Okay, taking advantage of the absence of guests, we allocate seats. Three seats for friends from the Qiong Yao family, four seats for friends from the Ma family, and five seats for my family. I have the most relatives and friends. My family and relatives alone are enough for three seats. Only two seats are left for friends, including friends from the two newspapers who wrote the column, old friends from Vietnam and China, etc. We really care about one and miss the other. It is difficult to invite everyone, which will inevitably lead to regrets. I can only ask my friends to forgive me. Starting at six o'clock, guests began to arrive one after another, offering warm congratulations and giving red envelopes and baby gifts. We were collecting and greeting each other, and we were overwhelmed. President Zhen of the Alberta Times, his wife and his granddaughter arranged to sit at the same table with bagpipe poet friend Wen Riqiang and literary friend Jianci. It was the writers who gathered together to talk and talk. Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Federation Zhang Huafang and his daughter were busy attending the banquet. There was a lot of light; it was rare for the three major figures of the American and Spanish overseas Chinese newspaper Fang Huixian, Gao Zhizhong and Yongtai to attend the meeting; Bi Yonggen put down his restaurant business and attended the meeting from a long distance, which was commendable for his sincerity; Mrs. Huang of Jinlong Jewelry Shop just returned from Vietnam, was full of travels and was not settled by jet lag, so she came sincerely, which was indeed a blessing; and all the relatives and friends who agreed to attend were not absent, and they were sincerely grateful. Among them, the most worthy of mention is of course the veteran Yu Wenjin, a leader in the overseas Chinese community. He does not hesitate to condescend and attend banquets every time. He often gives me top hats. I truly deserve it! That night was the full moon celebration, and most of the guests had gathered, but the protagonist hadn't appeared yet, so everyone was anxious. It turned out that these first-time parents were very nervous when they took their son to a restaurant for a banquet for the first time. They were afraid that the baby would not get enough milk, and they were also afraid that the baby would cry. In addition, the weather turned cold and the wind was biting outside. When Guofeng entered the hall carrying Zilong's cradle, I shouted "The protagonist has appeared", and the whole hall booed! Everyone was busy admiring the baby's full moon appearance and taking photos. Even though the dishes have been brought to the table, everyone seems not to focus on tasting the food. It is really about celebrating the baby's first month of fun. Seeing this in my eyes makes me feel extremely happy!