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It wasn't fair. That was the one thing on her mind this February. First she had to beg her aunt and uncle to let her go to this school, then the building catches fire and they want her home so she can't even finish her first year. Then she finally gets them to let her go back the next year…only for her to realize all her efforts directly resulted in her isolating herself during what was her favorite time of the year: the spring festival, aka the Lunar New Year …or as many of her white classmates called it: Chinese New Year.
It was getting closer and Jubilation Lee was almost regretting coming back to New York. She had missed all the friends she had made in half a school year’s time, people that understood her, really understood her, not just tried to understand. So much so she hadn’t even thought about the holidays until she was able to be re-enrolled mid way through the 14-15 school year at Bayville. Then she came to the school again in early January to move her things in…and thus she learned that spring break would not be until early April…when the holiday “Easter” occurred. Bayville High School was a public school. They shouldn’t be lining their holidays up with religious ones. The ones in California never perfectly lined up with the Lunar New Year but the late february spring breaks usually gave her at least one week off of celebrating during the spring festival season. She had been banking on that so she could go home and see family before the Lanturn festival on the last day. And now Principle Kelly was firmly telling her she could not take two weeks off School to be able to go home and celebrate even the last day without being forced to repeat the whole grade.
She flopped onto a sofa and growled as she remembered his words.
….
“All students only get an exception to stay home from school if they are ill, and even then, more than a week at a time would be out of the question unless the situation was grave! You are no exception to the rule Miss Lee. We cannot let a student disappear for half a month so they can holiday in balmy California, especially one who was just enrolled half way through the semester!” He had said, “It is not my fault you were spoiled for so long for good weather this time of year and cannot handle the cold, and I am not buying this Chinese Celebration nonsense. The new year happened before you even arrived for goodness sake! And here I thought your kind were made of tougher stuff! If this holiday is as important to you as you say, I’m sure there are places in the New York City China Town where you can go to participate after classes are finished, and that moose party loony Xavier will be happy to take you there for day trips. Now off with you!”
….
And then she had been shoved out of his office without getting to respond with a single word. Jubilee growled and pounded her gloved fists on the sitting room sofa, cursing Kelly. It wasn’t fair. Everyone else could see their families during their holidays but not her. And how dare he accuse her of lying about the spring festival! Was he living under a rock or just stupid?! New York had a huge Chinese population! How could he have not heard of it?! Or maybe he was just pretending not to know…whatever the case maybe, it made her feel furious…and oh so isolated.
Jubilee stopped her thrashing on the couch and sat up, tucking her legs to her chest resting her chin on her knees. She was the only asian kid at Xavier’s and the only one in her year at Bayville, and realizing this made her wonder if she had been right to think that anyone here understood her. For once, she felt alone, stranded in this far off state, cut off from her family she started to miss more and more every second. Part of her wondered if her parents and grandparents ever felt this lonely and stranded when they first arrived in the States. It didn’t matter that she could understand the other student’s languages, or that this place was at least familiar to her from the past semester she had been able to spend there in 1913, now she felt cut off from all that she knew, and she had no one to blame but herself. Phone lines didn't connect all the way to the west coast, and even if they could, her family had no phone. She couldn’t even wish them well on New Year's Eve... She rubbed her eye and got up to go to her room. She thought about pulling out some of her cylinders and curling up to listen to some of the recordings she had brought from home, but at the same time worried about damaging the fragile wax in the process…what if she felt even worse when the Spring Festival actually arrived in a few days and they were too damaged to play? What if they already had gotten damaged in transport…
Her thoughts were cut off as she walked by the kitchen and heard someone humming and singing something bouncy. A familiar voice but unfamiliar words.
“Eh la ba!~ Eh la ba!~ Eh la ba, chèri!~ Komon sa va?~”
Jubilee peered into the kitchen to unsurprisingly see Gambit there with a whisk and bowl in hand, dancing in place while he whisked.
“Eh la ba!~ Eh la ba!~ Eh la ba, chèri!~ Komon sa va?~” he sang again. Jubilee narrowed her eyes. This was unlike any English she had heard before. Was it English? She knew “chèri” was what he called Rogue…
Remy seemed to notice her at that moment and wave her over. “Well hello dere, petite! Come to sneak a taste o icing?” He asks with a sly smile.
Jubilee blinks and steps inside the kitchen. “Was curious about what you were singing,” she said.
“Eh, la ba? It’s an old creole song Tante Mattie taught me,” he explains, “its a common street song for Mardi Gras. Laissez les bon temps rouler, n all dat.”
The girl just stared at him for a second. “Shenma…” she muttered, “none of that was English was it?”
“Non. Be creole n cajun french. We speak dem now n den down in Louisiana. ‘Eh, la ba’ means ‘hey over here’ n dat other phrase mean ‘let de good times roll!’” He explained.
“Oh, It’s like how I speak mandarin at home?” She replied.
“Pretty much,”
For some reason she hadn’t fully realized Remy was fully bilingual like her, granted her first stint at the school hadn’t been long and she had only been here now for a few weeks. She smiled a bit at that. “Ok, whats a Marty graw then?” She asked
Gambit raised an eyebrow at her. “Is Mardi Gras first n how…” he starts but realization dawned on him quickly, “West coast. Right dey don really have it. Is a holiday before de Lent season starts to celibrate spring when Catholics have to fast n such. Originally mean ‘fat tuesday’ cause it were de day before Lent start, but down in N’orleans we make it a much longer festival. Specially de week just before.” He sets his bowl down on the counter. “We got parades, costumes, food, lights, music, dancin…all kinds of good stuff. We celebrate all week leadin up to de Wednesday, get all de party out of our system, n den everytin stop right at midnight. Remy may not be of de faith anymore but he still love to celebrate it. Expect to see dis whole kitchen decked out n green, purple, n gold soon.”
Jubilee blinked as she absorbed this information. “That sounds alot like Chūnjié except for the Green and Purple…” she comments.
“Pardon?”
“Oh uh…I think you may have heard of it as ‘Chinese new year’ but Chūnjié directly means ‘spring festival’,” she explains, “We’re celebrating the start of the New Year according to the lunar cycle and the start of spring. It’s a big festival that goes on for about 15 days. We have a lot of the same: food, dancing, music, parades…but everything is usually red and gold, cause those colors bring good luck. It starts this weekend actually.” Not that i’ll get to enjoy it…she thought bitterly.
“Sound’s like ya’ll would fit in well in N’orleans,” he comments, crossing his arms, “especially since last day o Mardi Gras be next Tuesday!”
“So you’re going to be celebrating all week?” She asks, a bit jealous.
“More o less, but on a small scale. no one else really celebrates it round here cept Kurt n he more o less adopted it from me. Rogue also celebrates a bit, but only cause ahm here to provide de party eats. n ah can’t leave ya witout a cook so can’t take a vacation south for de week either.”
This surprised her. “Really? So you are stuck here for the holiday, too?” She covers her mouth at the admission.
Remy stops smiling at that and gives her a concerned look. “You alright, petite?” He asks.
“No, not really,” she sighs and sits on a counter, grabbing some bread from the bread box and nibbling at it, “Xavier was fine with me going home for new Years but Kelly says I would have to repeat a grade if I leave for that long. My aunt and uncle would freak out if that happened, thinking I failed or something. It feels like I’m having to chose between feeling alone during one the biggest times of the year here or give up the institute entirely and stay misunderstood at home as a result.”
Gambit nodded and listened. “Desole, petite, Gambit knows how ya feel. He miss his family dis time o year too…” he replies quietly stepping towards her, “but ya aint gotta be alone…”
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t even contact my family right now, Gambit, yes I do-”
“Non, ah mean…why don we do some celibratin here?” He asks, “I already ordered lots o ingredients fo cookin dis week, whats a few more? N de two holidays share some traditions it seems so we should be able to celebrate both at de same time. You just show me what do do like ya do in Food club…we can share music, food, Gambit can take ya to de Chinatown for any parades if dey doin any…hell mehbee drag a few others wit us. What do ya say? Why not celibrate dis year as…Chungras, hen?”
She blinked before smiling. Maybe she couldn’t have both the home visit and the institute, but she could at least still enjoy the holiday. “Alright. But I’m warning you now, you are gonna need a looot of seafood for this, and I am gonna make you learn some chinese for some songs and greetings,” she replies with a smirk.
Remy chuckles. “You ain’t gonna believe dis but most mardigras food got some kind of seafood innit!” he replies, “n Gambit happy to learn some chinese so long as he can teach you some cajun french!”
“Hǎo le! Deal!” She says jumping down and extending a hand to him. He claps his own into hers and gives a firm shake. “Ok first things first: greetings to know. The most popular are ‘gōngxǐ fācái’ and ‘Xīn nián kuài lè’…”
….
It was a little past 3pm Saturday as Ororo headed towards the kitchen. It was that time of year again, and she knew seafood was on the menu tonight and it would be until Tuesday. She had seen the large order of crab, prawns, and shrimp on ice delivered to the institute this morning, and she just wanted to make sure he had not forgotten to have something that Kitty, her, and Evan could eat in his Holiday excitement.
As she approached the dining hall she heard music playing from a phonograph, but not any song she could recognize…or understand for that matter. The lyrics were definitely not english.
“Hǎo yī duǒ měi lì de mò lì huā,~ hǎo yī duǒ měi lì de mò lì huā,~” the music played. There was an accompanying dixie rag harmony but it seemed to be slightly out of time with the melody.
When she looked in the dining hall she realize there were actually two different phonographs playing two different songs, and that the decor had completely changed. She saw it decked out not only in the purple, green, and gold banners Remy usually put up, but also in new hand made red and gold ones covered in chinese characters. There were masquerade masks and feathers as well as red and gold envelopes on each table. At the center of the room at the largest of the tables, she saw four students (Rogue, Kurt, Kitty, and Jubilee) and Gambit sitting around it, a large table cloth spread out. They were huddled around with some kind of dough and several bowls of meat filling (one red and others plain glass), several having frustrated looks on their faces as they worked. She would’ve thought it was a meeting of the “weird food club” except most of the students that were members were missing and Jubilee seemed to be directing everyone. The table was covered in trays of what appeared to be clamshells, under closer expense, though they turned out to be made of dough.
“Oy Vey this is IMPOSSIBLE,” Kitty complained as the meat slipped out from the dough as she tried to close the dough clam shell, “It’s just too greasey, it won't close…and is anyone else’s hands cramping?”
“It won’t close cause you keep putting more than a spoonful in, sugah,” Rogue commented.
“Nuh-uh! I’m measuring as she said, see!”
“Yer using a soup spoon not a tea spoon…”
“Oh…”
“Hey at least yours look better zan mien, Kitty!” Kurt offered, showing his messy doughy creations. Half of them had meat spilling out of open spots, the other half he had clearly given up the traditional shape on and closed them however he could. “I don’t zink my hands vere made for zis style of cooking,” he jokes.
“No no! Yours are fine for a first try, here let me show you the wonton fold instead. It's easier,” Jubilee replied, rushing over to him. As she did, she looked up to see Ororo standing in the doorway looking both curious and confused. “Oh! Āyí Ororo! Hi! Happy Mardi Gras! Laissez les bon temps rouler!” She says waving and giving a slight bow in greeting. She was wearing Gambits’ special apron with a green, gold, and purple tie ribbon.
“N gōngxǐ fācái to ya too!” Gambit says looking up from what he was doing. She noticed he was wearing a red apron. “What ya need, mon ami?”
She blinked. “Sorry I understood what she said but what did you say?” She asked.
“It means wishing you prosperity, Jubes taught us it!” Kitty explained.
“Ja! Apparently ze chinese have zeir own new year zat lines up vith Lunar cycles! It lines up vith shrove Tuesday celebrations zis year! Und zere are animals for each year!” Kurt excitedly announced, “Zis year is Ox, und I vas born in ze year of ze rooster! Kitty is ze dog, rogue is a monkey, un Gambit is a horse. Do you vant to know your animal? Maybe zis vill be your year!”
“I see…is that today then?” She asked.
“Non, tomorrow. Cause dis be de eve tho, we makin some traditional foods…but throwin sum cajun flair to it,” he explained, “dirty fried rice, crab broil, crawdad and shrimp dumplins, spring rolls wit some southern spice, dried persimons n oranges, n a red n gold king cake fo dessert!” “N we got good halal fishy eats fo you, kitty, n evan too,” he explains gesturing to the dumplings kitty was preparing, “we decided to mix de holidays. We callin it Chun Gras. Like it?”
Ororo smiles. “That sounds like a wonderful idea…and those all sound delicious, but what is on the menu for Evan, Kitty, and I?” She asks.
“Well the cake is both Kosher and halal,” Kitty said, “We’ve got some steamed rice with a fish sauce too, and then Gambit had me do these Salmon dumplings…what else is there Remy?”
“Catfish po boys n steamed striped bass, also got some dates for ya,” he explains.
“That sounds wonderful, I can’t wait,” she replies, “Happy Chun Gras to you all…however it looks like you still have a lot of dumplings to make. Do you want any assistance?”
“Pleaaaaaase….” Kitty begged, “I’m the only one that didn’t handle the crab or shrimp so I’ve been on my own….tap in so I can rest my hands?” She pouts and shows off her hands as if Ororo could physically see how sore they are.
“We are also runnin out of dough…could use some help makin more considerin…” Gambit said, gesturing to the shell fish mix, “We didn’t tink dis through all de way…”
“I see. I’m sure I can manage. Jubilee, would you mind showing me how you’d like it done?” She asks.
“You got it!” Jubilee chirped, jumping over the table to walk with her to the kitchen.
As they walked to the kitchen Lady Ororo observed her. She seemed to have a skip in her step that had been missing earlier this week. “You seem to enjoying yourself despite the hard work, certainly less exhausted than the others,” she noted, “care to share your secret before I join the assembly line?”
“Eh, usually I’d be tired at this point in the dumpling making circle, but I’m just glad I’m able to celebrate,” she explains as she hands Ororo an apron from the hanger by the door, “it was really starting to look like I’d have to figure out how to celebrate the new year all on my own…and in that case, what’s the point of the holiday?”
“Understandable, Ramadan would be much harder and would not feel as meaningful if I didn’t have family to celebrate it with,” she comments, “I’m glad we are able to be a good substitute for you this year. Do you plan on staying up until midnight? To ring in the year and all.”
“Maybe. We are gonna have to get up early to get to New York City on time to make it for the Dragon dance and lion Dancers demonstration they are gonna have, so may have to compromise on that,” she said, “but worse case scenario I’ll just stay up with Gambit Tuesday to help him celebrate instead.”
“Are you sure it’s wise to do that? It’s a school night,” she warned as she washes her hands.
“Eh I fall asleep in class once in my life, so be it,” she says with a shrug as she fills a bowl with flour and gets her mixing chopsticks, “besides, he needs some family to celebrate with him too, right? How can you let the good times roll without family? It's only fair! Oh, the ones for the halal dough are over there!”
Ororo chuckles and grabs the red bowl and chopsticks. “Fair point. I will be sure to make sure Logan does not interrupt your festivities. Happy new year, Jubilee,” she says as she pours the flour.
“Xìe xìe. Same to you,” she replies, “ok, now follow my lead. You are gonna want your dough to have a specific texture…”