【赫芬顿邮报 12/01/09】被收养的“小大使”迎接春节
【中文标题】被收养的“小大使”迎接春节
【原文标题】Adopted kids mini-ambassadors come Lunar New Year
【登载媒体】赫芬顿邮报
【原文作者】LEANNE ITALIE
【原文链接】http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120109/us-fea-parenting-lunar-new-year/
烟花、家庭团圆、盛宴，这些特点让农历新年成为世界上历史最悠久、最重大的节日。
对那些被收养的中国孩子来说，这个节日具有特殊的意义，春节让他们成为一个自己一无所知的文化小大使。
并没有任何官方手册说明，外国父母需要在多大程度上庆祝所收养的孩子的出生地文化节日。可是1月23日开始的龙年春节，通常都是亚洲孩子们的重大节日。他们的父母把大门装饰起来，举办包饺子聚会，把红包里装上钱。在为期15天的节日开始，孩子们会打扫自己的房间，挂上红灯笼。还有一些人的庆祝活动比较简单，在餐厅里与朋友们吃点心，到华人聚居区观看舞龙表演。
随着孩子长大，庆祝活动的方式也逐渐改变。有些人质疑父母们是否做得足够，还有些人根本对此漠不关心。
住在拉法叶的Jan Risher说：“在南路易斯安那，我们绝对算得上是中国文化的传播大使。”她和她的丈夫有一个10岁的在中国收养的孩子。Risher说：“在她小的时候，我们尽量多表现一些中国文化外在的形式，比如装饰品、煮饺子。但她现在长大一点了，我们的主要活动是谈论中国，它的历史、习俗，甚至政治，这样她可以思考自己为什么在这里。她现在有能力深入思考问题。”
新泽西的Karen Burgers有两个中国女儿，分别是10岁和5岁。她们身穿丝质中式服装，在新年里把蔬菜捞面、橘子和签饼（译者注：中国餐馆的折叠形小饼，内藏有预测运气话语的纸条）带到学校。Burgers说：“我实在没有办法营造出更加真实的节日气氛，但是孩子们明白这个意思，多少学到了一些文化方面的知识。”
Rich Patterson和他的妻子住在温哥华，那里是中国春节庆祝仪式的中心地带，去年吸引了5万人参加当地的活动。在这个让全世界家庭团聚的节日里，Patterson一家人也聚在一起。
他们参加行走，与其它6个曾经到中国收养过孩子的家庭分享点心。Patterson的女儿现在已经4岁半。他说：“今年，我们第一次按照女儿的要求，把中国春节装饰物融合在圣诞节装饰中。”他指的是挂在壁炉上的一个大花环，中间有一个明亮的红黄颜色的龙。
伴随着春节的那些象征性和迷信含义，已经在中国存在了5000年以上，以下是一些传统的习俗，可以供收养中国孩子的父母们借鉴。
中国黄道十二宫
龙在中国十二属相中排名第五，是最强大的动物。对那些被收养的孩子们来说，了解自己的属相是最基本的知识。当然，亚洲人的黄道文化还有更加复杂、包含更多内容的知识。
马里兰州的Heather Mayes Gleason有一个5岁的中国收养女儿，和一个3岁的亲生儿子，她说：“我的孩子非常喜欢听有关中国黄道的故事。对于在中国收养的孩子，你不了解他们的历史，但是你有机会创造他们的未来。我猜这正是中国春节的含义。”
打扫房间
春节之前要扫掉房间里去年一年的坏运气。人们都去理发，孩子们穿上新衣服，表示一个崭新的开始。
印第安纳州Myra Cocca家的孩子已经长大，忙碌的生活让孩子们没有机会继续关注这项传统。她在韩国收养的孩子已经11岁，在小的时候，她在春节时给他穿上传统的韩服。她说：“现在，有的春节期间我们都不在家，孩子对这个节日越来越不关注了。”
红色
中国人用写有祝福语的红色小旗子和剪纸来装饰门窗，目的是吓跑妖怪和坏运气，用金色和橙色表示来年的富裕和幸福。孩子们会收到装在红包里的崭新的现金，有些父母也会在里面装上糖果。Risher对于红色的钟爱超过了所有的人：“我给家里所有人都买了一套红色内衣。”
饺子
中国人在新年来临之前吃新月型的饺子。在中国北方，人们在春节前一天午夜准备饺子。这种食物的形状有点像中国古代的钱币，吃饺子等于祈福未来财源广进。
Rishe家10岁的孩子Piper是怎么看待春节和饺子的呢？她说：“我来自中国，家人庆祝我出生地的节日对我来说非常重要。”
面条
越长越好，表示长寿。世界各地的新年传统食物大相径庭，但是主菜鱼、鸭、鸡都是整个烹调的，因为动刀剪被认为是不吉利的。面食也是如此。在一些被收养孩子集中居住的社区里，经常听到“长面，长寿”的喊声。
烟花
有很多古代的信仰支持新年里放烟花的习俗，其中一个是烟花的声音会吓跑妖怪和坏运气。因此，Burgers一家把发泡包装纸带到孩子的学校中。“孩子门穿着龙头服装在屋子里走来走去，脚下发出必必剥剥的响声。”
元宵节
新年的第15天是聚会的日子，各种装扮的红色灯笼挂在屋里屋外。在有收养孩子的家庭里，手工制作灯笼是一个必修课。
Kate Eastman和她的丈夫刚刚从缅因州搬家到华盛顿州，他们9岁的中国女儿可以更贴近亚洲文化，那里距温哥华和西雅图只有1小时车程。制作灯笼是这家人最喜欢的活动。
Cali的房间满是中国娃娃、书籍和其它能让她记得中国的物品。
Eastman说“这是一个学习的过程，我们完全遵照Cali的意见。中国的文化很复杂，然而更复杂的问题是你的孩子逐渐长大，她在多大程度上认为自己是中国人，或者不是中国人。这个问题永远在变化。”
“现在，她已经9岁了，她自豪地认为自己是美籍华人，我也为她感到骄傲。”
原文：
NEW YORK — With its fireworks, family reunions and feasts, Lunar New Year is the longest and most important celebration for millions around the world.
For kids adopted from China, it holds special meaning. Lunar New Year makes them mini-ambassadors of a culture they know little about firsthand.
There's no official handbook on how far parents of internationally adopted children should go to celebrate their kids' birth cultures, but marking Lunar New Year – Year of the Dragon begins Jan. 23 – is usually one of those times for Asian children.
Their parents decorate front doors, throw dumpling-making parties and stuff red envelopes with money. They clean their homes at the start of the 15-day celebration and hang red lanterns at the finish. Others keep it simple, sharing dim sum with friends at a restaurant or watching dragons dancing at parades in Chinese enclaves in their cities and towns.
The approach shifts and changes as their children grow. Some question whether they've done enough. Some do nothing at all.
"In south Louisiana, we're definitely ambassadors to the Chinese culture," said Jan Risher in Lafayette. She and her husband have a 10-year-old from China.
"When she was younger, I tried to do more of the outward Chinese cultural things, like decorations and cooking specific dumplings," Risher said. "But now that she's a little older, we mainly talk about China, its history and customs, and even its politics so that she can try and wrap her head around why she's here. She's a deep thinker."
Karen Burgers in northern New Jersey has two girls from China, ages 10 and 5. They wear silk Chinese dresses and nibble vegetable lo mein, oranges and fortune cookies she brings in to school for the new year.
"I've certainly failed to promote an authentic experience," Burgers said, "but the children get the gist, enjoy the festivity and learn a little about the culture."
Rich Patterson and his wife are in Vancouver, British Columbia, home to a Chinese New Year parade that drew more than 50,000 people last year. The holiday, which reunites families around the world, does the same for the Pattersons.
They take in the parade and share dim sum with six other local families with whom they traveled to China to pick up their babies. Patterson's daughter is now 4 1/2.
"This year, as a first, we fused Christmas decorations with Chinese New Year decorations at our daughter's request," he said.
That meant a bright red and yellow dragon was nestled in Christmas garland front and center above their mantel.
The symbolism and superstitions surrounding the new year are steeped in more than 5,000 years of Chinese history. Here's a sampler of popular customs among parents looking to celebrate the birth cultures of their adopted kids.
CHINESE ZODIAC: The dragon is the fifth and mightiest position in the Chinese Zodiac. For adopted kids, knowing one's birth animal is a casual connection, though the convoluted zodiac includes many other elements taken far more seriously in Asia.
"My kids love to hear about the Chinese Zodiac," said Heather Mayes Gleason in Takoma Park, Md. She has a 5-year-old girl from China and a biological 3-year-old son.
"With Chinese adoption, you know very little about your child's history, but you create their future. And I guess that is really what Chinese New Year is about," Gleason said.
CLEANING HOUSE: Before the new year, sweep away any bad luck from the previous year. Hair is cut before the new year and children wear new clothes to represent a new beginning.
For Myra Cocca in central Indiana, it's harder as her kids have grown older and busier to observe the traditions they loved when they were small. Her son, adopted from South Korea, is now 11. When he was little, she dressed him in a traditional garment called a hanbok for new year's. Today, "sometimes we're not home during the holiday, so we have not always marked the occasion," she said.
RED: The color is prominent in banners bearing holiday sayings in Chinese letters and decorative paper cutouts placed on doors and windows to scare away evil spirits and bad luck, along with gold and orange to symbolize wealth and happiness in the year to come. Lucky red envelopes with crisp new bills are given to children. Some parents slip in candy instead. Risher has taken the color red further than most: "I've given everyone in my family red underwear!"
DUMPLINGS: Crescent-shaped dumplings are eaten ahead of New Year's Day in China. In northern China, they are prepared for midnight nibbling the night before. The shape evokes coins in ancient China and eating the dumplings is a bid for good financial tidings.
How does Piper, Risher's 10-year-old, feel about dumplings and celebrating the new year? "I come from China and it's important to me that our family still celebrates some of my culture, too," she said. "That's where I'm from."
LONG NOODLES: The longer the better to foster a long life. New year's food traditions vary widely around the world, but main dishes of fish, duck or chicken are prepared whole because using scissors and knives is considered unlucky. That means pasta is uncut. It's become a rallying cry for some in the adoption community: "Long noodles, long life!"
FIREWORKS: Many ancient beliefs exist about why fireworks play a major role in the new year. One is that loud noise scares away evil spirits and bad luck. That's why Burgers brings sheets of bubble wrap to her kids' school. "The bubble wrap is loudly stomped upon as the children parade around the room wearing a dragon head costume."
LANTERN FESTIVAL: The 15th day of the new year is marked by parties where decorative red lanterns are hung indoors and out. Lantern making projects are a cottage industry for adoptive families online.
Kate Eastman and her husband recently moved from Maine to Anacortes, Wash., so their 9-year-old daughter from China could be closer to authentic Asian influences within an hour's travel to Vancouver or Seattle. Lantern making is one of those things they love to do.
Cali's room is also full of Chinese dolls, books and other reminders of her heritage.
"It's a learning process and we follow Cali's lead," Eastman said. "It's complex, for sure, and what makes it even more complex is how your child wants to observe each year and how much she wants to think of herself as Chinese or not. That's always evolving and changing."
For now, Mom said, "at 9 years old, she's proud to refer to herself as Chinese American, and we're equally proud of her for that."
看来那些孩子们都遇到，或者说得到了很棒的家庭。
新年快乐，小大使们~（微笑） 我在想。。新唐人电视台的那些华人是不是被美国人领养的。。。。 祝福他们 他们是地地道道的美国人，如果美国和中国打起来，他们都是敌人，这一点确凿无疑，这种报道哄骗中国人自HIGH罢了，居然还有中国人跟着沾沾自喜，真是拎不清。
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