By Soon Li Wei
KUALA LUMPUR: On Friday, the Chinese community will welcome the Year of the Golden Ox. The celebrations will definitely be quiet this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and movement control order.
Last year’s Lunar New Year celebrations more or less coincided with the shocking announcement that Covid-19 cases have been reported in Malaysia.
The then Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad told a media conference that the dreaded Covid-19, then known as 2019-nCOV, had been detected on our shores, with the first three cases involving Chinese nationals who entered Malaysia through Johor from Singapore on Jan 23, 2020.
Whilst listening to the minister, I was busy tucking into festive cookies and Mandarin oranges in my parents’ house in Kuala Krai, Kelantan. Needless to say, the coronavirus was the hot topic of our discussions throughout the celebrations.
Many people were worried about this new infectious disease but since it was still early days then, the situation was under control and only two-figure new cases were reported in our country daily.
Who could have guessed that the Covid-19 infections would rise at an exponential rate worldwide in the coming months, leading to the World Health Organisation classifying the outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020?
Most festivals observed by Malaysia’s multiracial society place a great deal of emphasis on religious and traditional rituals, family togetherness and, not to forget, visiting one another.
In the case of the Chinese, no new year celebration is complete without the annual reunion dinner as well as bursting firecrackers and having lion or dragon dance performances.
Things, however, are going to be different this year. With Covid-19 transmissions still rampant, we can forget about having big festive gatherings to usher in the Year of the Golden Ox.
We can, however, still keep the traditions alive by observing them with our immediate family members. Prayers usually held on the first day of the Lunar New Year to welcome the arrival of the God of Luck and to pay homage to our ancestors, as well as Ban Tian Gong (worshipping the Heaven God) on the ninth day, can still be held on a small-scale with our family members who live in the same household.
The festivities will be quiet this year because there will be no lion or dragon dance performances. Neither will there be any fireworks display or large-scale burning of joss sticks. The low-key celebrations, however, are essential to reduce the transmission of the Covid-19 virus.
Since the giving of ang pow (red packets containing money) is an inherent part of the celebrations, married family members can continue with this practice but this time around, instead of putting money in red packets, it can be credited into the recipient’s e-Wallet or bank account.
As for the standard operating procedures (SOPs) drawn up for the Chinese New Year celebrations, the National Security Council (NSC) has allowed a maximum of 15 family members to attend the reunion dinner on the eve of the festival. However, only those staying within a 10-kilometre radius are allowed to attend the reunion dinner as interstate and inter-district travel is prohibited.
This came as a relief to the Chinese who were not very happy with the SOP issued earlier allowing only family members staying in the same household to participate in the reunion dinner.
It is necessary to limit the number of people attending reunion dinners and temple functions because if there are no restrictions, no one would care to abide by SOPs such as physical distancing and wearing a mask as they would be too busy talking to one another and enjoying themselves.
Also, don’t forget that we may have senior citizens, pregnant women, people suffering from non-communicable diseases and children among our family members, hence we should not expose them to the risk of infection.
The Chinese New Year celebrations usually begin on the eve with the reunion dinner when the entire family would sit together and enjoy a variety of traditional Chinese dishes.
We may or may not be aware but such dinners are “good opportunities” for virus transmissions because, in some instances, family members use their fork and spoon or chopsticks to help themselves to the food served on the table. Reunion dinners would also inevitably lead to close conversations, resulting in the emission of “free-flowing” saliva droplets. All it needs is for one infected person to be present among them and we know only too well what the consequences will be.
The best thing to do is to take a Covid-19 test before attending any Chinese New Year function.
At the reunion dinner, avoid sharing cutlery and chopsticks, and use separate ladles to scoop the food from the dishes.
The slogan stressed by the Ministry of Health, #kitajagakita (let’s take care of ourselves), is self-explanatory. To avoid infection, we have to safeguard ourselves by wearing a mask, taking care of our self-hygiene and refraining from touching others.
Although the government has relaxed the rules a little to allow the Chinese community to welcome the Year of the Golden Ox, we should do our part by complying with the SOPs whilst celebrating with our families.
Happy New Year and Gong Xi Fa Chai! – Bernama The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
