Reunion festival starts with a beeline to tang yuen stalls

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Family business: Chun Yao (above left), Chun Zhen (second right), helping their mother Chu (right) at their tang yuen dough stall at the Chowrasta Market.

THE Winter Solstice (Dong Zhi) Festival means more than just a reunion to 71-year-old grandmother Wong Yon Ho.

It also symbolises the welcoming of ‘five blessings’ into the home of the elderly trader who sells glutinous rice balls (tang yuen) at Chowrasta Market on Jalan Kuala Kangsar in Penang.

“The five colours of the tang yuen symbolise good fortune (fu), prosperity (lu), longevity (shou), joy (xi) and wealth (cai),” she said while busily attending to customers yesterday.

Colourful choices: Khoo Ah Bak, 63, (left) and granddaughter Jolene Ong, six, checking out packets of tang yuen on sale at Air Itam Market.

Together with her daughter Chu Yit Oay, 45, and two grandsons Lim Chun Yao, 17, and Chun Zhen, 20, Wong has been involved in the business for the past three generations since her parents’ time.

She said the festival was celebrated on a bigger scale than Chinese New Year by some Chinese as it marked the beginning of winter and a reminder of another year gone by.

“It is a day for family members to have a reunion, enjoying tang yuen with savoury or sweetened soup,” she said.

At the Air Itam Market, trader Lee Leong Chun, 20, said he woke up at 3am to prepare the tang yuen as well as the dough to sell in the morning.

“I need to wake up early to prepare the dough and to cook the tang yuen,” he said.

Another stall selling and preparing fresh tang yuen on Magazine Road was packed with customers who were seen lining up by the roadside.

Housewife Teh Lay Choo, 55 said she had been patronising the stall for more than 10 years due to the delicious soup.

She said she bought 10 packets of the ready-made ones to offer during prayers to her ancestors and to share among her family members during their reunion.

“It is much easier to buy ready-made varieties of tang yuen than making them ourselves,” she added.

Stall assistants Cathy Khaw, 20, said they offered two choices of soup comprising ginger or pandan.

“The customers can choose to mix the soup with either brown sugar or white sugar syrup,” she said.

Most stalls enjoyed brisk business during the festival which falls on Dec 22 every year. According to traditional belief, one grows a year older after eating the tang yuen.