Our tradition is making dumpling as a family every Chinese New Year with my Tai Tai (great grandmother) and my entire mom’s side of the family. My Tai Tai taught us how to make the traditional dough and fillings from scratch. We had a family hazing ritual where everyone learned how to make the dumplings at age seven and got to make a special dumpling with any ingredients in any shape that we all had to share. My traditional Tai Tai told us making them as a family and enjoying them together would bring wealth and prosperity to all. She believed this as dumplings are a traditional food fabled to bring riches for the new year. Our family will switch the fillings every so often by using a traditional indian curry from my dad’s family. We’ll also deviate from my Tai Tai’s recipe and make our own “americanized” version on dumplings. It’s a deep part of my identity because although I am only a quarter Chinese, but I’ve been raised on many chinese traditions such as this that make me feel more connected with my heritage and family. It shows that being “American” doesn’t mean just having one culture, it means blending many and sharing traditions. It shows how deviating from tradition isn’t the end of the world and the most important part of tradition is doing it as a family. We can see this throughout history from the discovery of the Americas, where the natives and europeans were somewhat congenial with each other, to now, where many people are accepting and supportive of immigration. 

– A

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more