history and meaning of the "Red Egg and ginger Party"?

[Jim Wong]

I am chinese-american and I must admit that I am not up to speed on the

meanings of some of my customs, even though I go through with them. I was

raised to "just do it" but my parents never explained to me WHY.

I have asked a few people, even my parents and they don't even seem to know
themselves. I have heard things like the red egg represents fertility (like
a woman's egg) and the ginger represents sperm (squiggely shape) and the two
come together to form an person. On the other hand, I have heard that the
red egg represents the egg shaped red caps worn by scholars in old China and
it is the hope that your child should be lucky enough to become a scholar
and wear the red egg shaped hat. Given the wide ranage of theories, I wanted
to get someone who can give a compelling explaination to clear this up. I
don't wnat to just "go through the motions" on this for my own son.

I want to be able to explain to all of my non-chinese ( and some of the
chinese

guests as well) where this custom originated and what the significance of

the red eggs and ginger is. Can anyone shed some light on this for me???

thanks

[Airbug]

Jim Wong wrote:

> I am chinese-american and I must admit that I am not up to speed on the
>
> meanings of some of my customs, even though I go through with them. I was
>
> raised to "just do it" but my parents never explained to me WHY.

Yeah... if only the AF listen to thier parents who said "Don't date that white
devil or black devil"

ab

--
"The purpose of war is not to die for your country, but to make the bastard on
the other side die for his"
General Patton

[Ms Tory Caplan]

Hi Jim,

I'm a Euro-American woman living in Hong Kong married to a Hong
Kong Chinese man. When our daughter was born in 1996 my m-i-l prepared
lots of Chu-guk-gung (pig feet & ginger and boiled eggs and sugar in
vinegar) which I ate lots of post-partum and also offered to visitors and
sent some to work for my colleagues to enjoy. I was told that it was
especially nutritious for new mothers. The vinegar soaking made the
eggshells partially dissolve, which I guess put the calcium in the vinegar
sauce that I was supposed to eat at least 3 times a day.

My m-i-l also cooked me ginger fried rice, ginger and chicken
soup....all the ginger was supposed to be "heating" which is important for
the new mother to recover her strength and make good milk for the baby.

At our daughter's 1 month party, there were red colored boiled
eggs. I think the red was supposed to be festive and lucky. Chu-guk-gung
is also very red in color (coincidentally?). My guess (although I'm not an
anthropologist) is that it might have to do with what post-partum women
eat?

I just asked a colleague (she's born in Beijing and raised in HK,
married to a Cantonese husband) and she doesn't know the origin of the
ginger and eggs either. So, don't feel bad that you're not "up to speed on
ther meanings of some of my customs". Lots of Chinese people in Hong Kong
and China don't know them that well either.

Cheers, Tory

Jim Wong (jim...@ipex.com) wrote:
: I am chinese-american and I must admit that I am not up to speed on the
: meanings of some of my customs, even though I go through with them. I was
: raised to "just do it" but my parents never explained to me WHY.

: I have asked a few people, even my parents and they don't even seem to know

: themselves. I have heard things like the red egg represents fertility (like
: a woman's egg) and the ginger represents sperm (squiggely shape) and the two
: come together to form an person. On the other hand, I have heard that the

[snip theories]
: and wear the red egg shaped hat. Given the wide ranage of theories, I wanted