Traditionally on the eve of Chinese New Year (CNY) also known as the Lunar New Year, Chinese families have Reunion Dinners, where the whole family gathers for dinner. It's supposed to be a big, grand affair, where the entire extended family - however many generations of it there are, make it a point to return home for dinner, especially if they haven't had the opportunity to gather the rest of the year.
Reunion dinners are tricky things for modern married couples. In olden times, daughters are considered to be married into the husband's family, and thus had the reunion dinner at with his family. Nowadays, however, partly because families are so small, daughters are generally no longer considered to have been married 'out' of the family, and are thus also expected to have reunion dinner with their own family. This creates a little conflict of interest as reunion dinners are generally held at the same time - dinner time on the eve of CNY. Therefore, some families have to scramble - attend both dinners on the same day - eat a little and quickly with one (usually the wife's family) and then rush to the other. This makes for a rushed and extremely filling evening.
My SIL does it the other way around - she has a quick dinner with her husband's family, and then they rush over to her parents' (my PILs) place for their main dinner and basically stay the whole night.
We do it slightly different. We have dinner with my parents on the day before (eve of the eve, if you will), which enables us to have a relaxed evening on the eve. I think it works for us.
Reunion dinners are tricky things for modern married couples. In olden times, daughters are considered to be married into the husband's family, and thus had the reunion dinner at with his family. Nowadays, however, partly because families are so small, daughters are generally no longer considered to have been married 'out' of the family, and are thus also expected to have reunion dinner with their own family. This creates a little conflict of interest as reunion dinners are generally held at the same time - dinner time on the eve of CNY. Therefore, some families have to scramble - attend both dinners on the same day - eat a little and quickly with one (usually the wife's family) and then rush to the other. This makes for a rushed and extremely filling evening.
My SIL does it the other way around - she has a quick dinner with her husband's family, and then they rush over to her parents' (my PILs) place for their main dinner and basically stay the whole night.
We do it slightly different. We have dinner with my parents on the day before (eve of the eve, if you will), which enables us to have a relaxed evening on the eve. I think it works for us.
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