Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner was very cool - CRAZY - CHAOTIC but cool.

We arrived in Seattle's Chinatown, to see men in kilts walking towards a common direction.

We saw a large poster on a street corner with the image of a Chinese Lion Dance Mask headed kilt wearing figure.  Beside the words "Direct from Vancouver - Toddish McWong!"

Gung Haggis Fat Choy II
Sunday, February 24: 5-9 p.m.

Ocean City Restaurant Noodle Cafe
609 S. Weller St.
Seattle, WA 98104

The evening opened with 5 Lion Dancers on the dance floor and stage, with drummers up on the stage.  I haven't yet had a lion dance featured at the Vancouver Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, so this was soooo impressive.  18 people altogether

Next, the Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra took over the dance floor while I did the MC thing and welcomed people to the event.  They played a few songs, on Chinese dulcimers, Chinese zithers, and then a song on drums. 15 people altogether

Bagpipes were heard as the Northwest Junior Pipe Band came marching in.  Bagpipes blaring and drums banging - in perfect tune and rhythm.  About 16 altogether.

Amazing entertainment from:
+ MC Toddish McWong and Joe McDonald/flute/bagpipes/singing

More later....

This year's Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner has sold out at over 300 people!
Bagpiper Joe McDonald and myself are going down to give the Seattle folks our double powered duet version of "The Haggis Rap."  Apparently everybody loved the rap version of Robbie Burns' immortal poem "Address to a Haggis" that they were asking the organizers if I was going to be back.  Well, I am. And it's going to be even more powerful this year, especially since Joe and I performed it on Robbie Burns Day for CBC Newsworld on national television.


From the 2007 Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner:  Toddish McWong meets Seattle "Gung Haggis" couple Rory Denovan and Becca Fong.  Rory is Scottish-American and Becca is Chinese-American... and they are a lovely couple! - photo courtesy of Becca Fong.

Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy II
SOLD OUT

Ocean City Restaurant Noodle Cafe
609 S. Weller St.
Seattle, WA 98104
Maps & directions

Sunday, February 24: 5-9 p.m.

The Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner is organized by Bill McFadden of the The Caledonian & St. Andrew's Society of Seattle.  Bill has now attended 2 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners in Vancouver.  He completely loves it.  This year we introduced him to the Vancouver crowd and they gave him a big ovation.  Read my article about last year's Seattle Gung Haggis dinner here: http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2007/2/25/2764365.html
 
The Seattle Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner is a fundraiser for the Seattle area Northwest Junior Pipe band who are raising funds in a bid to attend the World Championships in 2008.  Read about their experience at last year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy Seattle dinner on the NWJPBlog...

It's going to be a crazy night with both the Northwest Junior Pipe Band performing AND the Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra.  Last year featured a young Chinese girl with her brother performing on their traditional Chinese instruments.  This year they are bringing the whole orchestra with them.

Lensey Namioka is a Seattle author, whose book I discovered at the Vancouver Public Library.  Half and Half is about a girl growing up with Scottish-Canadian grandparents in Vancouver, and a Chinese-American grandmother in Seattle.  Yup - this girl is Chinese-Scottish-Canadian-American, and she's going through an identity crisis.  I invited Lensey to the Vancouver Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in 2006, and in 2007 she was our featured author.

Featuring:

from Vancouver - Todd Wong & Joe McDonald

From Seattle

Red McWilliams, "America's Celt"

Master David Leong's Martial Arts & Lion Dance School

Northwest Junior Pipe Band

Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra

Susan Burk

Don Scobie

Ben Rudd

Lensey Namioka

Melody Dance Group

Back in January, Todd Wong was interviewed by Eric Model for "Conversations on the Road."  Model describes his  show as "journeys into the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and the forgotten."

"And today most appropriately takes us into the category of offbeat.  And today's journey we go to Vancouver and we are discussing and event called 'Gung Haggis Fat Choy.'"

It's a very interesting 21 minute and 38 second pod cast with a stimulating conversation about the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, early Chinese and Scottish pioneers in the late 1800's, racism, cultural traditions, inter-racial marriage, and the Canadian explorer Simon Fraser who was actually born in Vermont.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Gung Haggis Fat Choy - A Unique Scottish-Chinese Cultural Celebration

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a cultural event originating from Vancouver, BC. The name Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a combination wordplay on Scottish and Chinese words: haggis is a traditional Scottish food and Gung Hay Fat Choy/Kung Hei Fat Choi s a traditional Cantonese greeting (in Mandarin it is pronounced Gong Xi Fa Cai) used during Chinese New Year. The event originated to mark the timely coincidence of the Scottish cultural celebration of Robert Burns Day (January 25) with the Chinese New Year, but has come to represent a celebration of combining cultures in untraditional ways.

In Vancouver, the event is characterized by music, poetry, and other performances around the city, culminating in a large banquet and party. This unique event has also inspired both a television performance special titled Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Canadian Games, organized by the Recreation Department at Simon Fraser University.

In this conversation, we speak with event founder and spearhead Todd Wong. He tells us how it got started, and what it has come to represent around Vancouver and far beyond. 

North Seattle Herald-Outlook has written a story about the upcoming 2nd coming of Toddish McWong to Seattle.  Last year we staged a Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner on Chinese New Year Day in Seattle.  It was a benefit for the Pacific North West Junior Pipe Band. 

Check out my blog report from Gung Haggis Seattle 2007

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!
Feb. 24 event to mark Chinese New Year, Scottish Burns Night

 By Elizabeth Mortenson America has imported its fair share of entertaining goods from Canada, including, but not limited to Celine Dion, hockey and Crown Royal whisky.

However, it's possible the strangest thing borrowed from our neighbors lately is Gung Haggis Fat Choy, the Scottish/Chinese celebration being put on by The Caledonian & St. Andrew's Society of Seattle on Feb. 24.

And if you're thinking to yourself, 'That sounds like a bizarre combination,' you're not alone.

"It's weird - it's totally weird," said creator Todd Wong. Started by Wong as a dinner between friends to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the Scots' Burns Night, the event is now a 400-seat extravaganza in Vancouver, B.C., entering its 10th year.

After a decade and repeated exposure to this odd idea through the media, this cross-cultural experiment has gained some acceptance.

A CROSS-CULTURAL CELEBRATION

In 1998, Wong, a Chinese Canadian, was planning a celebratory dinner for the Chinese New Year. Burns Night happened to fall only two days away from the new year, so he merged them. With this unusual but interesting choice, he became "Toddish McWong."

Burns Night is a traditional holiday in Scotland held to honor the poet and national icon Robert Burns, the man who wrote the ubiquitous-on-New-Year's-Eve "Auld Lang Syne." Celebrated every Jan. 25, the night assumed to be his birthday, Scots hold suppers where people eat, honor his life and read poetry.

The festivals are held around the world, but the haggis-dim sum derivation is McWong's particular hybrid.

Everything from the food to the dress is an intermixing of the two cultures - even the name of the festival. During the Chinese New Year people often say "Gung Hei Fat Choy" to each other, which translates roughly from Cantonese (a Chinese dialect) into English as "Congratulations and be prosperous.

"Haggis is the national dish of Scotland and a perennial favorite at Burns Suppers. "It's like a giant hot dog. It's sheep stomach filled with chopped-up liver, kidneys, spices, oatmeal, and then you boil it," described Diana Smith, entertainment director for the St. Andrew's Society. She added that it was like a "meat pudding" - probably one of the nicer things it's been called.

So "Hei" was replaced with "Haggis," and Gung Haggis Fat Choy came into being.

"I think the Scottish people come to eat the Chinese food, and the Chinese people come for the bagpipes," Wong said.

SPREADING THE WORD

The idea of holding a Gung Haggis Fat Choy event in Seattle was Bill McFadden's, president of the local Caledonian Society in 2007.

According to Smith, their Seattle celebration last year had few Chinese people in attendance. Wong estimates there were four Scots to each Chinese person in attendance in Vancouver.

This disparity could be due to the fact that these events are sponsored by Caledonian Societies, whose purpose is to promote Scottish awareness, are subsequently predominately Scottish in membership. However, all are welcome and invited to attend.

"This year we're trying to get the word out; I've contacted the Asian publications, so we're hoping to have more of the Chinese element.... We'll see what happens," Smith said.

At this year's celebration in Seattle, the Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra and Northwest Junior Pipe Band will perform for the anticipated 200 to 250 guests (150 people attended last year's event). Wong, himself, will be there to emcee the event. "It's gonna be a blast," he said.

GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY
Sunday, Feb. 24, 5-9 p.m.
Ocean City Restaurant
609 S. Weller St., Chinatown
Tickets $35
Diana Smith, 523-2618