Not My Tradition: Lunar New Year and Gospel Traditions

It’s an awkward time of year. Christmas and New Year are fading into the distance and two important holidays are here. There was Australia Day on 26 January and then there is Lunar New Year usually around the early weeks of February.  Caught Between Festivals Admittedly, Australia Day in my migrant family has always been just another public holiday. My parents became citizens long ago and do not join the “almost 80% of new migrants and refugees [who] believe Australia Day is important for the nation”. It was only in my adolescent years that I realised the cultural thing to do was to have a barbecue. I undoubtedly considered myself Australian: born and raised, through and through. Yet the pride I felt for being Aussie was at times tainted by the...