‘RHOBH’ Star Crystal Kung Minkoff Shares Her Lunar New Year Traditions With The World
While Westerners typically celebrate the New Year by counting down to midnight on December 31, for many people in China, South Korea, Vietnam, and other Asian countries and Asian communities around the world, the New Year doesn't truly begin until the first new moon after the sun enters the 11th sign of the solar zodiac, or put another way, the second new moon following the winter solstice (December 21). This year, the new moon that kicks off Lunar New Year occurs on February 1, 2022. It's a celebration of utmost importance to the Asian community around the globe.
Unlike the holidays based on the Gregorian calendar, those based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar tend to fluctuate from year to year, according to the Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI) at Columbia University. (It's not the only lunisolar calendar—the Hindu, Jewish, and many other calendars are also lunisolar to account for seasonal drift, per the New York Times.) When the Republic of China was founded in 1912, however, the government made the Gregorian calendar the official "public calendar" and recognized January 1 as the first day of each new year. Still, many continued to celebrate Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year, though it became commonly known as "Spring Festival," per the WEAI.
Today, people still use the old lunar calendar in conjunction with the solar-oriented Gregorian calendar to mark traditional observances, like Lunar New Year and the QingMing Festival.
Whether you call it Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, the holiday is celebrated by millions of people around the world—including Crystal Kung Minkoff, star of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. By hosting a Chinese New Year party last year, she shared an important part of her culture not only with her fellow cast mates, but with a national audience. "I was surprised that every single one of them had never been to a Chinese New Year celebration... [because they all live] in LA, which is a very diverse city," says Crystal, "So, [I said], 'Well, if you guys have never done it, maybe most America hasn't.' It just seemed like the perfect opportunity for them to experience [Chinese New Year] on camera, and let the audience see them experience it for the first time, too. And it's so meaningful to me."
While she's not sure how she's going to top last year's celebration, especially with concerns over COVID-19, Crystal shared with Women's Health how she and her family celebrate the new year and what they're most looking forward to in 2022.
How do you prepare for Lunar New Year, exactly?
Let's just say... it's not a holiday for procrastinators. "You want to get everything done prior [to the new year], whether that's cutting your hair, grocery shopping, or cleaning your house. Because the day of New Year is the day of your luck," says Crystal. "So, cutting your hair is essentially cutting away your fortune. Everything represents your abundance, health, luck."
That's why it’s tradition to clean your house in the days leading up to the New Year because you're not supposed to take out the trash on New Year's Day, she explains: "Everything has to go in, not out." It's a good idea to clean house on your finances, too. It's common practice in business to balance the books, pay off any debts, and collect on any loans and charges you're owed before the New Year, according to the WEAI.
Beyond personal and household preparations, it’s important to set aside time with loved ones. "Between days two and seven, you go visit your family," says Crystal. "And every New Year's Eve, we do a dinner with my entire extended family of about 50 people… It's a party! We [gather] for every holiday anyway, but New Year for us—there's nothing bigger."
What are some important Lunar New Year traditions?
"Of course, when you're a child, you want that hóngbāo, which is the red envelope," says Crystal. "With my kids now, it's probably their favorite [tradition]." Children and younger family members receive a hóngbāo filled with yasui qian, or New Year's money, after they ketou (kowtow) to members of each elder generation in order, beginning with the oldest living generation, per the WEAI.
It's just as important to show respect for one's ancestors who have passed. Traditionally, on New Year's Eve, the male head of the household would lead the family in making offerings to various gods and ancestors. They would pay respect to the god of wealth, the gods of the well, the bed, the hearth, as well as any others with whom the family hope to remain on good terms, the WEAI cites. Then, the family would turn their attention to their ancestors, giving them food sacrifices and burning incense in their honor. Every family member would kneel before the ancestral tablets, symbols of past generations, to show their respect. Some families believed that the spirits of their ancestors were in attendance on New Year's Eve.
Because Crystal’s family are descendants of Confucius through her father’s side, she distinctly remembers growing up lighting incense in his honor. While Chinese families typically light incense to show respect for late family members and ancestors, "for us, it's particularly poignant because it's Confucius," says Crystal. "Of course, we light incense for each member of the family that has passed in the last century. But, in particular, Confucius is just a pretty special thing for us. We have a picture of him framed, and we bow to him and, now, my father [after he passed] in the last few years. It's very special."
Crystal also shares her family’s traditions and culture with her children’s classmates. "Every year, from when they were in preschool to now their elementary school, we host Chinese New Year at their schools," she says. "We bring in the lion dancers. We feed the entire school a traditional food. We give a red envelope with a good luck coin and mandarin orange for each kid. Then, we go around to each classroom and read a story about New Year."
She and husband Rob Minkoff, who is not Chinese but is "very well-versed" in the culture, also arrange a whole assembly where there are not only lion dancers, but also a kung fu demonstration for the students. "My kids live in a very Chinese house," says Crystal. "But it's letting their friends experience it—that makes them feel prideful."
Lion dancers and Dragon dancers are often seen in Lunar New Year parades. A Lion Dance usually has two performers inside one costume, acting as the animal's front and back legs. "It's supposed to send away any evil spirits," Nancy Yao Maasbach, president of New York City's Museum of Chinese in America told Oprah Daily. "It's an opportunity to feed the lion with red envelopes." The Dragon Dance, meanwhile, is performed by visible puppeteers holding poles that allow the dragon to move in a flowing motion. These dances are the best known in regards to Lunar New Year, but there are many others across the different regions of China, per Maasbach.
What are some traditional Lunar New Year foods?
The easy answer: "A dumpling," says Crystal. But for every holiday—not just New Year—each of her aunts makes a different specialty dish. "I always look forward to that because no one ever wavers. They just make their food, and then the entire [kitchen] island is full of all these traditional dishes," she says. Still, a very important food to Lunar New Year is a whole fish, Crystal notes.
"But for me, one of my aunts makes something called a pearl meatball—it’s a meatball you roll in sticky rice," she says. "That's something I've always loved… I don't know if that's super traditional for New Year, but that's something that I grew up eating every single year." Crystal doesn't limit herself to preparing "traditional" foods for the sake of tradition itself. Instead, she focuses on preparing the foods that are rooted in her specific memories over the years. Those are the foods she shares with her kids to honor their heritage and culture.
Traditionally, when receiving visitors, it's important to serve "lucky" food, which include dates, a.k.a. zao, peanuts, a.k.a. huasheng, dried longans, a.k.a. guiyuan, and lotus seeds, a.k.a. lianzi, per the WEAI. Beyond being considered lucky, peanuts are also associated with fertility and longevity. Dates are also a multipurpose lucky food since they can be used to make zaogao, a cake made of ground dates added to flour with a date filling. Another popular New Year desert is a rice cake called niangao. (FYI: Nian gao "symbolizes progress, advancement, and growth," according to the Woks of Life food blog. Essentially, nián means "year," while "gāo" is a homonym for "gāo," meaning tall, high, or expensive.)
And if guests get thirsty, a "lucky" beverage is Yuan bao cha, a tea named after silver ingots, a type of currency used in ancient China.
What’s the significance of wearing red on Lunar New Year?
Fans of RHOBH will remember the gorgeous gold gown Crystal wore to her Lunar New Year party last season. But one person wasn’t quite so fond of her outfit choice: "My mom was upset with me. She was like, 'How are you not wearing red at New Year?'" Crystal recalls. "But I looked and looked for red, and I thought about wearing a qipao, which is a Chinese traditional dress." Then, she found the dress and fell in love with the design—and the designer, Andrew Gn, who grew up in Singapore with Chinese and Japanese ancestry. "So I was like, 'You know what? I want to wear a Chinese designer,'" Crystal explains. "But I always have red on me [anyway]. My wallet is red, and I tend to wear red undergarments."
Red doesn’t just symbolize good luck in Chinese culture, but "especially if it's your animal year, you need the red to protect you," says Crystal. (Hear that, all you Tigers rawring into 2022?) Contrary to what many Westerners might think, "just because it's your animal [year] doesn't mean you'll have good luck," she adds. "But it doesn't mean the opposite, either. It just means that a lot of things will happen to you. So, you want to make sure you have the red to protect you from all those things."
How will this New Year—the year of the Tiger–differ from previous New Year celebrations?
"It's gonna be hard to top last year," Crystal says, referencing her lavish party with the RHOBH cast at Span Social House. "I feel like I gave the girls sort of the spectacular version of [Chinese New Year], and I certainly can do it every single year. With COVID, though, I don't know if I can have so many people [together] right now."
It's likely that the New Year will look different for many people across several countries. In China, for example, several cities "went on high COVID-19 alert as the Lunar New Year holiday travel season started" on Monday, January 17, Reuters reported. Travelers are required to report their trips days before their arrival, as the Omicron variant has reached more areas in the country, including Beijing. Meanwhile, many local governments have advised residents to forego unnecessary travel during the holiday. Dozens of international and domestic flights have also been suspended, per Reuters. While some families may stick to their original gathering plans, others might opt for virtual celebrations.
In the United States, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America are sponsoring a virtual Lunar New Year celebration on Saturday, February 5, 2022 at 10 a.m. EST. The video performance will feature dances, acrobatics, and yo-yo tricks by the Madison Chinese Dance Academy, followed by traditional Chinese crafting demonstrations and Lunar New Year traditions, including the lion dance.
This year is significant for Crystal and her family because her husband, Rob, is a water Tiger. (In the Chinese zodiac, each year is a different animal sign, and each animal sign has a rotating association with five natural elements—water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. Each animal and element combination occurs only once every 60 years.) "This is a particularly important year for Rob, and I will do everything I can to support that and protect that," she says. "...They say the people who were born in 1962 as [water] tigers are very careful, ambitious, calm, and strong. And they're very passionate for their goals... So, this is my opportunity to support Rob with new ventures that he wants to try." For all water Tigers, 2022 is your year to try something new.
Take it from Crystal—the celebration of Chinese culture and heritage doesn't (and shouldn't) end just because the New Year party does. "Being Chinese, it's not just about New Year, right? It's how I live life every day," she says. "So when the [RHOBH] girls come over, and I put out snacks, I put out Chinese snacks. It's little things like that because it's not just about the big things... That's how I'm sharing my life and my culture with them on a more daily basis."
Preserving her Chinese heritage is important to not only Crystal, but her entire family. "What I love is that me and my cousins, we're like the youngest generation—other than our kids—[because] our parents are all still around. But our generation has all come together to make sure that we don't stop [these traditions]. Because we're all American, we're all born and raised here, whereas our parents were not. They're all raised in China," she says. "So [our culture] gets easily diluted and lost, but we're not gonna allow that... I'm so proud that we have those roots and that history that allows us to feel passionate."
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