Chinese New Year
The reunion dinners on the day before Chinese New Year are often the largest and most expensive of the year. Some families use special and expensive foods to gain face; others use meaningful foods to bring luck. Jiaozi (a kind of dumpling) are common in northern China. People think they look like the old Chinese silver bars and hold luck inside. Egg rolls and spring rolls like lumpia can also be made to look like golden bars, and oranges and tangerines are thought to look like gold coins. Noodles like yimian or Filipino pansit are eaten uncut to wish for long life. Some dishes are eaten because their Chinese names sound like lucky words, such as "fish" and "well-off". In Cantonese, "vegetable" sounds the same as "having money" (choy) and "leek" sounds the same as "counting-and-planning" (suan). Because of this Cantonese people in China and in other countries try to have some during the New Year holidays. Niangao, called "tikoy" in the Philippines, is a kind of cake made from fried sticky rice and sugar. It is very common in southern China. In Chinese, its name sounds like nián gāo ("the year gets better") or niánnián gāoshēng ("getting better year after year"). Some people also think its stickiness is like a glue and use it as a wish for holding their family together. Indonesians call their niangao "basket cakes" because they mold theirs in bamboo baskets. They also have some special flavors in addition to vanilla and chocolate like pandan, a tree with good-smelling leaves. Some people fry tikoy with eggs; basket cakes are often steamed with pieces of coconut meat. Because most Chinese people in the Philippines speak Hokkien and not Mandarin Chinese, they also like to eat pineapples. In Hokkien, the word for "pineapple" sounds like the word for "having a lot of money".