Chinese New Year Cake Meaning
The word 糕 gāo meaning cake is identical in sound to 高 meaning high or tall.
Chinese new year cake meaning. It is considered good luck to eat nian gao during this time because nian gao is a homonym for higher year the chinese word 粘 meaning sticky is identical in sound to 年 meaning year and the word 糕 meaning cake is identical in. With beautiful decorations popping up across the city find out the meaning behind these chinese new year decorations and discover what will help. For old people nian gao expresses the wish of longevity.
Every year chinese new year is one of the biggest public holidays in hong kong meaning that you can either stay here and watch the fireworks displays or sneak off for a short trip from hong kong. Nian gao also niangao 年糕 nyen gaoww year cake a sweet rice cake is a popular dessert eaten during chinese new year. Nian gao is a homonym for higher year the chinese word 粘 nián meaning sticky is identical in sound to 年 meaning year.
Nian gao sometimes translated as year cake or chinese new year s cake is a food prepared from glutinous rice flour and consumed in chinese cuisine. While it can be eaten all year round traditionally it is most popular during the chinese new year. It is considered good luck to eat nian gao because it has the symbolism of increasing prosperity every year.
Why eat nian gao. For young people it expresses the wish for promotion and high income. We all have definitely seen this during chinese new year at every relatives house but do we actually know why we have this.
Well this is a sweet rice cake which is called nian gao in chinese. It was originally used as an offering in ritual ceremonies before it gradually became a spring festival food. The word gao in chinese means high.
Nián gāo sticky rice cake chinese new year s cake.