Lunar New Year (Part 2): Traditions, Food & Growing Up in Singapore with Luna Aixin

Conversations With Your Chinese Auntie

Happy Lunar New Year! 新年好!

This episode is part two of my Lunar New Year series. If you missed part one, please listen to episode 8.

In this episode, I imagine that Luna and I are sitting at a hawker center, eating foods we desperately miss, and talking about everything from our experiences growing up in Singapore, Lunar New Year traditions, including going to the Kuan Yin temple, red packets, Buddhism, and much more.

Luna 月愛心 (They/them/their) is a multiracial, non-binary, neurodivergent, disabled settler, community planner, facilitator and artist with ties to Southeast Asia, specifically Nusantara cultures and Pacific Islanders. As someone who was born into a colonized society, Luna has been researching through imagination, learning and understanding ways of being that are decolonial and “kampong-like" - accepting, caring, inclusive, celebratory and supportive of each other. As a neurodivergent person, Luna loves multimodal ways of creative expression and experiencing the joy of witnessing others “play with imagination” on “very serious matters”. They work with local governments, non-profits, community organizations and personal projects through GaGiNang Productions (自己人创作) on ways to create equitable, just and safe systems and practises that can better serve our communities. They currently reside on the stolen and unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Luna's website