How do avoid making a major faux pas during Lunar New Year?
Take this lesson from The Guardian and BBC. Recently, both news sources posted Chinese food recipes along red envelopes, with a side of paper money used for remembering the dead. To read the full story, click here.
Ooh oh. Don’t let this happen to you.
While the red envelope was used in an acceptable cultural context, paper money for the dead must strictly be used in the Underworld, not among the living. Putting joss paper next to food can mean a number of things. It may be that the dead came to eat and paid for it with their money. Or, it may indicate that you are wishing the person to whom you are serving the food to quite literally, “go to hell.”
If the BBC intended their photos as some kind of serving suggestion, your Chinese guest would probably gasp and have a heart-attack.
You may think that the world has learned from this viral lesson dated January 17th 2022, yet, another such faux pas appeared on February 4, 2022.
This story appeared, “University of Toronto hands out ‘hell bank notes’ meant for deceased to students on Lunar New Year”.
You would think this couldn’t happen twice in the same Year of the Tiger season. Besides, Toronto has a significant Chinese population, over 500,000 for a total Toronto population of nearly 3 million. Wouldn’t University of Toronto sought some cultural advice before making this major faux pas?
Death is a taboo any time, especially during the Lunar New Year season. Wishing your clientele dead is hardly the message you want to send out.
Check with Yvonne before reaching out to the Chinese or East Asian population. She will make sure you and your organization make an excellent impression rather than a painfully memorable one.
