nian gao in Chinese around the house for lunar new year celebration is not unusual in our house and I know for many others too. Like I’ve mentioned before, lots of Chinese food carry auspicious meaning. The reason many people wants to have nian gao for lunar new year celebration because they want a “higher year”. By just saying the word “nian” means “year” and Gao means “high/tall” in this context. I think you can see what I’m trying to say here. Nian gao symbolizes a high year, an increase in prosperity🙂 We simply call it “ti kue” in Hokkien, which means sweet cake.
Other sayings that the people give the sticky cake to the kitchen god so he couldn't report to the Heaven Gods.