Chinese Novels

Here’s another example of different and unrelated cultures arriving at the same custom, with the same symbolism, for the same reason—by entirely different routes!

As You Know, Bob (and this presumptuous Westerner welcomes corrections), there’s a Chinese practice of eating some sort of leafy green vegetable for New Year’s: the word 菜 (cai ³ (Cantonese) or cai⁴ (Mandarin) being a play upon the word 財 (coi⁴ (Cantonese) or cai² (Mandarin), denoting wealth; that’s also why Lunar New Year parade lions contend over a bale of cabbage—unless they’re using real money as the prize.

However! A lot of Afro- and Euro-diasporic Americans also make a point of eating auspicious green vegetables—cabbage, fresh or as sauerkraut, kale, and collards are popular choices—because the green color evokes U.S. paper currency!