We have a multi-cultural team in the office. Only a few Singaporeans and one Chinese, many indians and few other single representation of other countries – who for the purpose of this post don’t matter much. Anyway, during Chinese New Year the amount of pineapples has increased: in ornaments, food, snacks, etc. Of course I asked the inevitable question of why.
Here are a few findings:
- This pineapple thing is particular to Singapore.
- The reason why is because “pineapple” in the Hokkien dialect also means Prosperity comes to me.
- 王梨 -> the Hokkien characters, also read as wang lei.
- According to this post, pineapple means wealth, luck, excellent fortune, gambling luck for Chinese culture.
Lastly, and what I found really intriguing:
- Pineapple tarts are made into rectangle cakes to resemble “golden bricks”, which signifies prosperity.
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Debemos comer mas pies de pina!!