Lantern Festival : New Year Marathon's Finale

CN Tower aka Toronto's Tallest Lantern & Second Chinatown's 
Lanterns along Spadina Avenue

Lantern Festival (or Big New Year) just took place last night, and for most folks it marked the end of the 15 days marathon of feasting. February 17th, 2011 formally ended the Chinese Lunar New Year 
celebrations, marking the end of the winter season and the first night of a full moon. This dates from the rule of Emperor Ming (58-75 AD) of the Han Dynasty. If you missed last night's shining moon, try tonight 
from your window for an awesome sight.

Traditionally, lanterns are lit all over the country in homes and temples to guide all the spirits.   Spectacular processions of exquisite silk and paper lanterns in  
every shape and form would take place 
in the dark streets. At the end of each 
procession a magnificent dragon, carried by at least a dozen men, dance to the 
deafening rhythm of cymbals, drums 
and firecrackers. All this noise is meant to scare away evil spirits. So what happens when people emigrate to another country, lets say 
Canada? Or more specifically, Toronto?

Well, last night in Toronto's second Chinatown it was quiet for Lantern Festival. Nary a single dragon dance along the dark streets of Spadina Avenue/Dundas St. West due its prohibitive cost and not a single 

pedestrian was seen with a lit lantern. No red firecrackers were set off 

into the wee hours tonight, thanks to city by-laws. Would our ancestors back in China be shuddering as Chinese (be they new immigrants or 

CBCs) no longer follow all the steps to vanquish bad spirits? 

Well, I think they might forgive 

contemporary Chinese in Toronto as we do love our lanterns, whatever shape 

and form they may be in 2011. Stepping foot into Dragon City Mall, I was re-

warded with a visual treat of  traditional red and gold lanterns of varying size 

hanging in the lobby and in the mall. 

Meanwhile, Tap Phong, a major 

restaurant supplier and the go-to place 

for George Brown Hospitality students, had a plethora of Chinese and Japanese 

lanterns to set any home, temple or 

restaurant aglow! 

Popping into the popular Kim Moon 

Bakery along my annual behind-the-

scene Chinese New Year tours, I took 

the opportunity to admire some more 

glowing beauties illuminating counters 

filled with New Year treats.  

My all-time favourites lanterns would be the contemporary lantern-

shaped neon lamp posts along Spadina Avenue from Sullivan St. to 

Baldwin Street; what a sight at glowing dusk or on pitch dark night.

Glutinous Rice Balls filled with Black Sesame  float
in Red Bean Soup with Tapioca Beads 

Boiled rice dumplings
ready to go into soup 

Besides the entertainment and the breath-taking lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival would be eating Tang Yuan or Yuan Xiao, the little 

round dumplings made of sweet glutin-

ous rice flour and traditionally stuffed 

with sweet or savoury fillings. As a 

young child, I dubbed this mouth-water-

ing dumpling soup as "Chinese toes" 

soup as the dumplings float to the surface, looking like cute little toes peeping out of the broth! Yes, I was an imaginative child! How one 

make these delectable dumplings varied pending on whether you arrive in Toronto from southern China (most likely Canton area from 1870s 

to 1970s) or recently from northern China (late 1980s onward). The 

usual method followed in southern China is to shape the dough of 

glutinous rice flour into little balls, make a hole, insert with a filling of choice, then close the hole and round out the dumpling by rolling it 

between your hands. 

In northern China, sweet or non-meat stuffing is the usual ingredient. 

The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of 

the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and 

rolled in a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a 

snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size! 

My mom traces her roots back to south-

ern China, the Canton region. Oddly 

enough, my mom's dumplings did not 

conform to what I've described above. 

Nevertheless, I always loved the ones 

my mom and I would make, sans fillings, hence a bit chewier. We would roll 

the dough into a long sausage shape, 

and then cut into small balls. They are served with minced pork strewn about in a clear, rich pork bone broth,  and accompanied by bok-choy sweetened by the long, slow simmer in the broth.  

Boil dumplings until they
float to the top of the water 

I thought that everyone made their 

dumpling soup the same way.  Turns 

out that once you immigrate to the new world, you might decide to "improvise" a bit if you're busy raising four children! Yesterday to my horrors, my mom pro-

claimed herself to too tired to make any of these delectable dumplings, savoury or sweet ... Since I was craving them so badly, and lacking time to make them from scratch,  I decided to take matters into my own hands by  purchasing a package of frozen dump-

lings filled with black sesame and sugar!  I followed the English 

instructions printed on the package: I boiled them 5-6 minutes until 

they floated to the top of the boiling water. Drained and added them to my leftover New Year's Day soup - Sweet Red Bean Soup with 

Tapioca Beads. Absolutely delicious!

By the way, did I mention that these dumplings symbolizes family 

unity, completeness and happiness? While I sipped the soup and 

nibbled into the chewy dumplings with crunchy sesame centre,  I 

also savoured looking out the kitchen window,  as last night was the 

15th day of Chinese New Year festival,  the first night to see a full 

moon ... If the skies stay clear the next few evenings,  look up you 

happen to be  outdoors tonight or look out of your window for a 

fantastic sight! 

Tang Yuan filled with Black Sesame & Sugar

Now I'll be going back to the gym for much needed workouts as I get 

ready for Persian New Year's celebrations in mid March ...