Chinese Birthday Culture

On my Chinese birthdays, my mum usually celebrates for me in a simple way. That is by cooking me a bowl of mee sua with two eggs.

The celebration of birthdays in Chinese culture is quite different from the way it is celebrated in Western culture.


red-dyed eggs

The Chinese believes that a baby's birthday falls on the day he is conceived. Hence, the day he is born is the day he turns one year old.


vermicelli
(mee sua) which signified longevity

herbal soup ingredients, pat chan


the herbal soup boiled with chicken


the mee sua with the herbal soup and eggs


my bowl of mee sua!

A very important practice for the Chinese is that for every birthday, an additional year is added to the birthday person.

Say he/she is celebrating his/her 10th birthday. For the Chinese, it would be his/her 11th birthday instead.

They believe that this would ensure the birthday person would live through the year and see the next.

Comments

  1. LeeSeptember 22, 2009 at 10:46 PM

    Hi Wenn, I love this old tradition. And my wife does it for me every year...
    And 3 red eggs and the mee sua sure taste good....
    but I will take a pass on the herbal soup, ha ha.
    She sometimes use Quail eggs....then it 6 in my tummy.
    Have a nice holiday, Lee.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LifeRamblingsSeptember 22, 2009 at 11:08 PM

    mi-suah is what we had for breakfast on the first and second day of CNY. we usually have it with a boiled egg, chicken drumstick, fish maw and fish balls.

    i don't take pat chan. it's too heaty for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The ScientistSeptember 23, 2009 at 4:33 AM

    Nice. I had 2 red-dyed eggs for my birthday every year =)...

    ReplyDelete
  4. JeanSeptember 23, 2009 at 4:42 AM

    glass noodles too resembles longevity.

    ReplyDelete
  5. TekkausSeptember 23, 2009 at 8:30 AM

    Happy Chinese Holiday! LOL :D Hmm....the weird thing is I never celebrate my Chinese Birthday! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. TekkausSeptember 23, 2009 at 8:31 AM

    Yeah! Usually we eat mee sua and red egg right? But yours is so special! There is herbal soup? My...I wish someone can cook for me during my Chinese Birthday! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. TekkausSeptember 23, 2009 at 8:33 AM

    And there's even mushroom! Gosh must be so finger-licking good right Wenn! :) I'm drooling already!

    ReplyDelete
  8. WilliamSeptember 23, 2009 at 9:07 AM

    Happy birthday! Are you a foochow? I thought, normally pak chan is taken by foochow. My children don't like it although I like it very much!

    ReplyDelete
  9. GabrielSeptember 23, 2009 at 9:47 AM

    wow, i miss mee sua very much! are you a foochow? haha...it has been a while since i last tasted the pak chan already. really miss it...thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. DoraSeptember 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM

    I do not follow this culture & I never eat vermicelli on my birthdays. Your bowl of meesua looks like the confinement food, hehehe...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Everyday HealySeptember 23, 2009 at 10:28 AM

    Wah... I love mee sua. I still not yet have my breakfast. Drooling now! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  12. ReanaclaireSeptember 23, 2009 at 12:01 PM

    hi Wenn, red eggs and mee sua? yeah, just saw those in stp blog too, he doing it for his daughter lately..
    as for me, i never did those for my kids.. lazy mama... all i did was taking them out for makan and buying a cake for them.. so commercialized! yes, good to keep the traditions going.. this is real chinese culture!

    ReplyDelete
  13. smallkucingSeptember 23, 2009 at 1:10 PM

    I don't follow this custom but it's fun to see other people doing it :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. eastcoastlifeSeptember 23, 2009 at 1:55 PM

    I still maintain this tradition in my house. Although my son prefers blowing out birthday candles. :P

    ReplyDelete
  15. eastcoastlifeSeptember 23, 2009 at 1:55 PM

    Happy Birthday Wenn!

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousSeptember 23, 2009 at 2:03 PM

    hmm..i never had that in my birthday... is that hokkien tradition?

    ReplyDelete
  17. DonnaSeptember 23, 2009 at 4:01 PM

    oh.. i love mee shua....
    and the egg...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Borneo FalconSeptember 23, 2009 at 5:30 PM

    Mee sua is not my favourite but my wife loves it

    ReplyDelete
  19. cre8toneSeptember 23, 2009 at 6:52 PM

    Great!~

    ReplyDelete
  20. PeteSeptember 23, 2009 at 7:31 PM

    My mum would normally cook clear soup mi sua with 2 eggs. I guess pat chan is for ladies only?

    ReplyDelete
  21. wennSeptember 23, 2009 at 8:32 PM

    i'm hokkien..it's been a tradition..my mum is fantastic..she remembers all of my sibling' n my children' chinese birthdays..

    ReplyDelete
  22. Shingo TSeptember 23, 2009 at 11:53 PM

    Your mee sua picture makes me feel like having birthday everyday. Yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  23. seowenSeptember 24, 2009 at 1:25 AM

    Herbal soup with mee sua??? we usually cook "lam mee" and red eggs for birthday :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. wennSeptember 24, 2009 at 8:01 AM

    well, as long as the noodles is long and it usually goes with red-dyed eggs..

    ReplyDelete
  25. BoeyJoeySeptember 24, 2009 at 11:09 AM

    We usually have red eggs and longevity noodles (fried/ soup) during birthdays. No pat zhan though.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Gina YongSeptember 24, 2009 at 5:36 PM

    Yummm.... I want to start this tradition in my family now. My kids are all 'banana'. Yah, not good, i kow. So... next birthday is in Nov - for my 2 girls!!

    ReplyDelete
  27. TchingSeptember 24, 2009 at 8:32 PM

    My mum only remembers my chinese birthday and yes, she'll boiled me a red-dyed egg. No mee sua and pat chan though.

    ReplyDelete
  28. wennSeptember 24, 2009 at 9:08 PM

    ya..it's chinese tradition..should at least know the simple ones..

    ReplyDelete
  29. DenesaSeptember 24, 2009 at 10:25 PM

    I fail to remember my Chinese Birthday and my mom will remind me every year. I remember eating these eggs and mee sua when I was younger.

    ReplyDelete
  30. wennSeptember 25, 2009 at 8:27 AM

    i wrote the chinese date behind the birth cert of my children so that they know.

    ReplyDelete
  31. AyieSeptember 26, 2009 at 1:04 AM

    we also celebrate it with noodles usual bee hun for long life too.

    i also cook misua but i prefer it white in sauce or soup, not too fond of black soup for noodles =P

    ReplyDelete
  32. wennSeptember 26, 2009 at 8:01 AM

    usually my mum cooks it with chee yok soup but that day she cooked it black..

    ReplyDelete
  33. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2009 at 8:50 AM

    This is really something I'd love to try, coz I want to taste always something new esp. Asian cuisine. This is really perfect for Cultural Connections. Hope you could join wenn.

    ReplyDelete
  34. wennSeptember 26, 2009 at 9:26 AM

    thx, my friend..

    ReplyDelete
  35. Mummy MoonSeptember 27, 2009 at 11:57 AM

    I just have 10 red eggs for my birthday! :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. wennSeptember 28, 2009 at 8:22 AM

    well..MM..not sure why the difference in number..

    ReplyDelete

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