My siblings and I couldn't have nian xiao (the 15th and final day of Chinese New Year celebrations) together as we all have our own in-laws to eat with so we had dinner togetherthe next day instead, partly to celebrate my bro Joe's birthday. I always find nian xiao a 6 out of 10 on the depression scale. The festival is over, the lion dances are gone, people go back to work and all the red decorations and cheer disappear, like there's a before and after CNY decorum. We only had 2 kids present for dinner, my son Ming and my sis's daughter Chloe. All the other kids were either away at work or studies. I felt the empty nest for us all.
My sister asked during dinner if I made any eggs stand on lap chun, the spring equinox, which fell on 4th Feb this year. Frankly, I've not heard of lap chun because I didn't go to Chinese school and my parents were not Buddhists or Taoists or superstitious. One of the things I appreciate about my parents was their lack of superstitions. My father especially disdained superstitions although he was very Chinese in regard to traditions. Because of this upbringing, I drink cold water anytime of the month without getting cramps and I go out into the rain without ever getting sick. I also give peddlers, water filters and food supplement sales people a hard time. Don't even sell me detox programs, especially enemas. I get my enemas from eating okra.
Lucky for me, I had seen some photos of standing eggs on Facebook on the 4th Feb and that led me to google on it.The Chinese believed since thousands of years ago that an egg can stand on its end only on the day of the spring equinox. The theory is that the astronomic conditions--the moon and the earth are perfectly aligned and the gravity pull is optimal--are ! perfect for that phenomenon on that day. That's enough to make any of us who are astronomy ignorant to shut up and buy the standing egg. But not me, even though I can't tell Uranus from Saturn. If conditions are perfect, why can't everybody make eggs stand during those four or six critical hours on that day? And why eggs? Why not a walking stick or a rugby ball? It's optimal gravity after all.
While many Chinese believe in lap chun, westerners and those who never grew up in a household of lap chun egg believers debunk it as a myth. Somebody told me yesterday that his science teacher in TTSS made eggs stand on lap chun and from what I've heard, Chinese science teachers in Malaysia love to propagate the myth. Non-believers and the scientifically-inclined say that anyone who has the patience can make an egg stand on its end, anytime, anyday, especially if an egg with a rough end is used. If all else fails, a pinch of salt or sugar (or sand, I think) will do the magic. And so that's what I did.
I used a pinch of salt and balanced the egg on the smooth surface of the tub of salt, just for drama and thrill. It stood.
My niece asked if the egg could stand on its narrow end too. It did.
With a bit of practice, I can make an egg stand on 3 grains of sal! t. The f iner the salt, the easier the egg will stand without being found out. Fine sugar works too, I've tried it. You can either put the salt on the egg or the table but when you stand the egg, gently and firmly grind the egg on the table.It's all friction, baby.
Trivia from Wiki: Anegg of ColumbusorColumbus's eggrefers to a brilliant idea or discovery that seems simple or easy after the fact. The expression refers to a popular story of howChristopher Columbus, having been told thatdiscovering the Americaswas no great accomplishment, challenged his critics to make aneggstand on its tip. After his challengers gave up, Columbus did it himself by tapping the egg on the table so as to flatten its tip.
Columbus needn't have tapped the egg. He didn't even have to wait until lap chun. He just needed three grains of salt.
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