My name is Peter, I am 18 years old and live in Darwin, Australia. Lunar New Year, marking the start of Spring, is a special time for billions of people around the world who follow the lunar calendar. I am just one of these people - this is my story.

Born in Adelaide, I moved to Darwin in the Northern Territory at age 4 and have proudly lived here ever since. Living in one of Australia’s most isolated cities - with its unforgiving climate and small population - may sound tough, yet Darwin’s integrated diversity and boundless opportunities makes it, in my (admittedly biased) opinion, the best place on Earth.

I come from an Indonesian family of Chinese descent, and we celebrate Chinese New Year (CNY) in a unique way. While nowadays CNY is highly commercialised, we have retained many of the traditional values from the era during which our family migrated to Indonesia. For example, we usually visit our ancestors’ shrines at the columbarium to pay our respects and pray for the new year to be a blessed one. Moreover, we do all of the cleaning preparations on CNY eve, never on the day itself. This is due to the belief that cleaning the house and throwing out rubbish on Chinese New Year will sweep away luck and money from the house. An added benefit is that it leaves us more time to spend with our families!

Another thing we do on CNY eve is have a reunion dinner with our family members. Cultural must-haves on the menu include ikan kukus (steamed fish), mie (noodles) and wedang ronde (glutinous rice balls filled with crushed peanuts and sugar submerged in sweet ginger tea). We eat ikan kukus because the words for ‘fish’ and ‘abundance’ in Chinese are similar. In order to avoid flipping our good luck, we are strictly forbidden from flipping the fish. Instead, we take out the spine to access the bottom half of the fish. Mie symbolises long life, while wedang ronde’s circular shape represents togetherness and completeness.

On the day of CNY, as soon as I wake up, I greet my grandma, parents and sister with CNY blessings. There are dozens of Chinese idioms that are used on CNY for all sorts of blessings and people, such as academic achievement for students, commercial success for the working, and longevity for the elderly. It’s a hard slog to memorise all of these idioms!

After this, we have a tradition of visiting relatives to communicate our well wishes and give or receive red packets filled with money. Usually, older family members will give red packets to young relatives who are not working yet. The day is spent catching up with family members, discussing family matters and having another dinner together.

One fact that many people do not know about CNY is that it actually lasts for 15 days. While in the past there were strict traditions for each day, nowadays most people will continue with their daily lives after the first day. However, the last day of CNY is also significant. While mainland Chinese people call it ‘Yuanxiao Jie’ in Mandarin, we call it ‘Cap Go Meh’ in our Hokkien dialect, which literally means ‘15th night’. On this day, it is customary to eat wedang ronde and many people release red lanterns to guide their year forward and ignite success.

Throughout CNY and especially during important occasions, we endeavour to wear red clothes. Red is the most auspicious colour for Chinese people, associated with life, fire and joy. While some people wear traditional garments called ‘hanfu’, my family prefer to don regular clothes that are red.

Living in Darwin, so far away from the rest of our family back in Indonesia, means that we have had to adapt many of these ancient traditions. Instead of visiting relatives, we video call them, which also enables us to contact many more people. Rather than having large, boisterous reunion dinners, the five of us hold a small, intimate dinner where we appreciate each other.

Because the few places that sell traditional foods are often pricey and sell out quickly, we make them from scratch ourselves. I really treasure the opportunity to learn these traditional recipes from my parents and grandma (the GOAT of cooking), and feel so fortunate to be able to spend this quality time with them for our culture to be passed down through the generations.

To complement our family dinner on CNY eve and the first day, we usually invite friends over for big dinners throughout the subsequent days. By doing this, we hope to spark the joyful reunion spirit of CNY for others in Darwin who must also celebrate CNY far away from their families. In turn, these people have become our family in Darwin, and we have become theirs.

Darwin has a long and storied history of Asian migration. The first group of Chinese labourers arrived in Darwin in 1874 as indentured labourers or ‘coolies’. Since then, the Chinese community has been instrumental to the development of Darwin as a city. On Lunar New Year, many community groups host public performances and events throughout the city, including lion dancing, firecrackers and of course, delicious food!

Overall, while living in Darwin has presented some challenges to celebrating CNY, I am thrilled that we have found our own special way to usher in fresh beginnings for the year. For those who already observe Lunar New Year, reflecting on what makes your celebrations special can help you to better understand and appreciate your unique background. If you have never celebrated Lunar New Year, I strongly encourage you to participate in the festivities the next time it comes around. You won’t regret it!