Chinese New Year will be in a couple of days; and my daughter is really excited & looking forward to the celebration. Also the fact that her birthday will fall on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year.Our plans for the celebration will probably be:
- new year eve dinner at uncle's house
- 1st & 2nd days will be spent visiting friends' houses which include my best friends, my boss (he and his family never missess visiting me during Gawai at the longhouse), and some colleagues/associates, and
- 2nd day ~ celebrating daughter's birthday with her best friends (with sleepover) and family.
Annually, we have reunion dinner on New Year's Eve with my uncle's family and so I guess this year will be no different!! It would time for me to catch up with their news and literally noticed how much I have 'matured' (hehehehe tua lah tu!!) when everyone is now older, bigger & taller!. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous, plentiful, and traditionally (chief chef is Aunty Wong, an EXCELLENT cook) which usually includes crabs, duck, vegetables, chicken and fish (simplified Chinese: 鱼; traditional Chinese: 魚; pinyin: yú). They usually ensure there's some fish leftovers for the next day, as the Chinese phrase "may there be surpluses every year" (traditional Chinese: 年年有餘; simplified Chinese: 年年有余; pinyin: nián nián yǒu yú) sounds the same as "may there be fish every year."
Red envelopes are what children love the most or SINGLE adult! It is interesting to receive the various designs of red packet/ ang pow. This would be the highlight of my daughter's visits!!! Not only does she loves receiving ang pow, she also loves receiving the varying design! I remember when I was in Taipei last year, my friend took me to all the interesting shops selling the red packets because he wanted to buy the special design for his celebration!
What is the tradition of Red Envelope? Traditionally, Red envelopes or red packets (Cantonese: lai shi or lai see) (利是, 利市 or 利事); (Mandarin: 'hóng bāo' (紅包); Hokkien: 'ang pow' (POJ: âng-pau); Hakka: 'fung bao'; are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples or the elderly to children or singles. Red packets are also known as 壓歲錢/压岁钱 (Ya Sui Qian, which was evolved from 壓祟錢/压祟钱, literally, the money used to suppress or put down the evil spirit ) during this period. Red packets almost always contain money, usually varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred. Per custom, the amount of money in the red packets should be of even numbers. The amount ranges from RM3.00 to RM11.00; where the lower amount is the most common; except at my best friends' & boss houses as they usually give more to my daughter! :D
Cong Xi Fa Cai!!
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