Happy Chinese New Year to you! This is a time when the Chinese, especially for all of China, takes a long break and spends the holiday with family and friends. It's usually a two week holiday, which goes to show you that this is no small celebration. The Chinese love to eat, and this is the holiday in which you bring out all the stops. You serve chicken, duck, fish and pork among the other delicacies including noodles! These foods all symbolize something, or at least someone way back when made it more meaningful (and easy to remember) by putting together the associations. That was kind of smart...
If you can remember them.
The ones that I know of (and the American sites I looked at all have different explanations; I should have asked a Chinese friend from China, but alas, he/she is not sitting here) are that the fish symbolizes prosperity, because the old Chinese saying directly reflects it (Mandarin: nian nian yoh yuhr). And, you serve the fish whole. Usually the most senior person gets to eat the head. So, if you find yourself dining with a Chinese family, don't snag the head until the most senior person (and all those more senior than you) has indicated he/she would be better without it.
The other is noodles. Long noodles symbolize longevity. We typically make super long noodles and eat in a delicious broth. Our noodles are homemade, and I know that I have done a good job when they are super gummy. Yum!
Whether you are celebrating or not, it's a fun time to go to your Chinatown and check out any festivities that might be going on. People are typically very *happy* around this time!
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