The Red Cloth

It’s been a real long time… since I’ve last updated this blog. So many things happened these pass few weeks but so little time to actually sit down, relax and type something good for your reading pleasure.

I’m actually stealing some time from my office work… no wait, it’s already after my working hours… so there’s nothing for me to feel guilty about, right?

Chinese New Year have come and gone at my very first CNY in my new home that I call my own. It was different from our apartment days cause the apartment doesn’t belong to us. So we put up small deco and even hung the red cloth over our doorpost and most definitely receive comments, which are both positive and negative.

Unfortunately, I noticed that Christian Chinese who made the negative remark seemed to be so Christianized that they have forgotten their background and the Chinese culture. Also, some chose to be ignorant of other Chinese culture.

I know that in Klang, not many will hang red cloth over their doorpost for CNY unless there is a wedding or some prayer thing. However, in Melaka the Chinese hang the red cloth for any joyous occasion – wedding, birthdays and Chinese New Year. It is to show to people who pass by the house that there is a good thing that is happening within the household. So, since I’m a Melaka Straits-born Chinese, I chose to hang the red cloth, which we call “Ang Chai” for the very same significance. When I was in Melaka for celebrate my CNY with my family, we pass by churches that hung the red cloth too. The cloth makes the churches look so welcoming and fresh.

I also remembered many years ago where Pastor Henry shared about the Chinese hanging red cloths over their doorposts. He said that the red cloth also have a symbolic biblical significance. When God wanted Moses to free the Israelites from the Egyptians, the last wrath that God imposed on the Egyptian was that their 1st born would be killed by the angel of death but the Israelites who painted the 3 parts of the doorpost will be spared from this wrath. This took place during the Passover where the angel passed over the house of the Israelites.

I’ve been wanting to bloged about this red cloth story for quite some time and I finally got to. Well, I hope that what I have written here would be an eye opener to the actual significance of the red cloth instead of casting negative remarks, “I thought I’m entering into a Christian home”. As a host, I definitely do feel a little insulted but in my heart, jeer at their ignorance.