00:11
まさこ! 恭喜発財。 I don't know how to respond to that. Good to see you too.
それは私もわからない。 I don't know either.
あ、違う。 恭平発財でした。 恭平発財はマンダリンで、 恭平発財がカントン語です。 多分、アクセントはめちゃめちゃ。 Ah, no, it was 恭平発財. 恭平発財 is Mandarin, and 恭平発財 is Cantonese. Maybe the accent is really bad.
え、どういう意味なの? What does it mean?
どっちも hope you get rich っていう意味です。 正直でいいよね。 Both mean hope you get rich. It's okay to be honest, right?
本当に面白い。 That's really funny.
It's not like, I hope you have a healthy year, or like, I hope all of your dreams come true, or like, not even just like 明けましておめでとうございます。 You know, it's just like the first thing you say.
Yo, hope you get rich, man! さすが、優先順位がはっきりしてます。 They have their priorities straight.
Yeah, so it's New Year's Eve today when we're recording, and so we have... so the first day of
New Year this year is Saturday, and it is a lot more festive around here than it is for... it was
for the Gregorian calendar New Year. Right now, everything you can see in shopping mall, everything
is on sale, everyone has read things going on, all of the stores have spread decorations.
My friend and I went to... well, this is my work friend, just to be clear. My work friend and I went to
o-matsuri-ish, I guess. It's not quite the same as o-matsuri in Japan. It's very...
It's more based on flowers. I don't know if it's a thing, but here, buying new plants and new flowers
are like part of the New Year's preparation. So we went to the one in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay,
it's... you know, maybe I would say like 40% of them were food and games and stuff you expect at
the o-matsuri, and then the other 60% were like orchid market, flower market, a lot of like this
03:05
bulbous yellow plants that look kind of like lemon, but they have more smooth surface,
and those fruits apparently are also Chinese New Year's thing, they were selling lots of orange
trees, so apparently these are very important things. So we went to those, and the same local
colleague was sharing with me like all these things that locals do traditionally for New Year's,
like either before or during New Year's, and there are many taboos. Don't do this
rules in New Year's, of Lunar New Year's. So I thought I would share some of them that I
thought it was funny with you. So the reason why I got showered just now is because I'm not allowed
to wash my hair on the first day of New Year's, so I cannot wash my hair tomorrow, according to them.
Ideally, also on Sunday, I'm not supposed to like wash my hair. I hope I can shower still,
because I'm planning to go to the gym. Both Saturday and Sunday? You can't wash your hair?
Yeah, so this coming Saturday and Sunday are first days of the New Year's, and
those two days are birthdays of the water god, according to the tradition.
And my first reaction to that was like, wait, it's a birthday.
It's a day, right? Like, can you be born twice if you're a god? And her interpretation is that it's
a long day. It's a long day. It's a one long birthday. So I guess if you're in the god scale
of time, you know, one day can be 48 hours if you want it to be. So basically,
it takes a very long time for the god to be born, right? I guess, yeah, maybe you could say that.
Yeah, some people have like really difficult birth, right? Like some people are in a delivery
room for, I don't know, two to three days. So maybe that's what it is. Yeah, it's just a very
complicated, long process for the god. And if you're a god, it's extra hard or something.
But so because of that, you're not supposed to wash your hair or do really anything
that involves water, lots of water. Yeah, like you're not supposed to do laundry.
You're not supposed to wash dishes. I guess washing dishes might have to happen because
06:04
there's a lot of tradition that involves food. You have to eat. Like food cooking, food eating.
Yeah, so maybe there's that. And another weird thing I learned is that it's supposed to bring
you good luck to buy shoes before New Year's, but not after. Not right after. Not right after
because Chinese way of saying shoes sounds like the sound of sigh, like はぁみたいな音らしいよね。
I don't know the exact pronunciation. But because of that, you know, if you buy your shoes after New
Year's, then your year will be full of はぁ moment is what they're saying. So don't buy new shoes.
But it's okay to buy shoes before New Year's. So they were doing lots of shoe sales. You can
buy before the New Year's. Yes. You can be tired. I got a new pair of shoes as well at 50% off.
Nice. Nice. Yeah. And so that's another thing. So a couple of days before, no not two, three or
four days before the first day of the New Year was supposed to be like a cleaning day. And,
you know, it involves general cleaning as well as this like weird cleaning technique from the
tradition where in supermarkets, they'll be selling pomelo leaves. Pomelo, do you know what
a pomelo is? Pomelo? No, I don't think so. It's a type of, it's a type of fruit that looks like
grapefruits, but like a size of your head, actually. Oh. It's like this big. Yeah. It's
pretty good. I like it as a fruit, but it's kind of a pain in the ass to peel it because it's so big.
And so the skin is quite thick. And some people think that it tastes pretty bland. But so
anyways, apparently, you are supposed to buy those pomelo leaves. So not the fruits, pomelo,
but just the leaves. And they sell them at the supermarkets. And I finally understood
what they're doing this for. You're supposed to like soak that in water and use that water
to clean the house. It's like a cleansing ability. And it's not just like for cleaning.
If you have pets, you're supposed to brush them with those leaves and cleanse the pet as well.
09:03
Oh, yeah. I just thought it was funny. So this pomelo leaves cleansing is a thing.
And I was like, Oh, should I get those on the day that my friend told me? She was like, Oh,
it's too late. It's probably all sold out. And it was indeed sold out at the supermarket.
Like on the day of it's too late. Like people buy them days in advance to like get ready for it.
Wow. Yeah. So it's really a thing. Yeah.
Yeah. And they're like 20 or so more. But one last one that
imagine Hakusai was like a lot more elongated and skinnier.
It's a very weird looking Hakusai. And in the supermarkets, they will come with red square
stickers with like the character. And you're supposed to hang that around kitchen.
Yeah. So you don't eat it?
No, you're supposed to eat them bit by bit, like throughout the New Year's.
But you're supposed to hang it upside down and eat it throughout the New Year's. And
that way, because I think kitchen, according to the Chinese tradition, is where the god of wealth
like enters the house. So apparently, that's like supposed to be welcoming the god of wealth
with this Nappa.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And also, I don't know if you've seen like
you find them often decorated upside down.
Oh, fuku is upside down.
And that's supposed to be good.
Yeah.
The fuku drops on you. It's you're going to be showered by fuku.
I need that.
That's the idea.
I need that now.
You have a nice shodo kit at home, so you should write fuku on a square piece of paper.
That's a great idea.
Make sure that it's square, but like you rotate it 90 degrees so it's hishigata.
And then you write fuku.
It has to be hishigata.
I think it's always hishigata.
12:00
Yeah. And put it upside down. And you'll be showered.
Can the size, you know, can the shape of the paper
be a little weird? Because, you know, hanshi, like the paper.
I think, yeah, I think that's less important than having, like, I think it might be better
if you can find a square hanshi, but I think the more important part is to put it upside down.
You put it upside down.
Okay. I'll do that.
And you write fuku.
I write, so does it matter when I write it or when I prepare it?
So maybe it does, but you know what? It's better now than later.
Better now tonight?
It's better now than never.
I'm so tired.
Yeah, right after this.
I'm so tired.
I mean, I don't know when you're supposed to do it, but, you know, the longer you hang it up,
the longer you have your fuku showering on you, so, you know.
So I have another question.
And people put it usually at the genkan, like where you enter.
Oh, genkan. Okay, I see. I'll try. I'll try to hang it. I don't know how, but yeah, I'll do it.
Well, so another question is, once I hang it,
and then how long? For the whole year, I can just hang it? It can be there all the time?
I guess you can, because I've seen it everywhere, but I guess people do take it down,
maybe end of February, usually.
Okay. Yeah, that's all right. That's fine with me.
But I also have seen, like, permanently stuck in, like, the restaurant wall and stuff,
so I think it's okay if you forget to take it off.
Um, yeah, the important thing is that you do it and put it upside down.
After we, after I take it out, do I need to burn it, or do I need to do something about it?
Do I need to take it to-
I didn't hear anything about that. I don't think the god of wealth cares about it.
They don't care about it? After they drop-
You should probably not take it to jinja, because that's a different god.
Right. Mixture isn't good. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Mixing gods is probably rude to them, you know?
Yeah.
So you can just, like, yeah, just toss it, I guess, when you're done with it, you know?
Yeah?
I mean, if you wanna pay respect, I guess you could, like, burn it, or, I don't know, like,
let it float over the river, or something.
Are you sure?
I don't know, I think, you know, see, I think, I always think with these kind of,
you know, superstition, like, what's important is that you interpret these traditions
15:05
and pay as much respect as possible.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.
So, you know, if a respect for you means toss it in a bin, do it.
And if it means floating it in over the river, do that as well.
That's fine.
I see.
Yeah.
All right.
I'll tell the god that Asami said, Asami said so, right?
Oh, you're gonna blame me for your bad luck of this year.
Okay, maybe, maybe I shared a wrong information, and I will, I will,
I will be blamed for my lack of ability to fact check.
I'll be careful if that happens.
Yeah, well, anyway, thanks for, thanks for the tip.
Yeah, I definitely need that.
Yeah, no, happy new year to you.
Yeah, happy new year to you, too.
That's it for the show today.
Thanks for listening and find us on x at Eigo de Science.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E.
See you next time.
