Gung Hai Fat Choi !
(Happy New Years !)
Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy (chinese, korean, cambodian, vietnamese, lunar..) New Year.
Chinese tradition tidbits:
There is to be extended house cleaning (aka spring cleaning) before New Year’s arrives and no trash is supposed to be thrown out and nothing cleaned in the house during the New Year celebration. This is to avoid having good luck/fortune being swept or thrown out.
No water is consumed during New Years. Teas and other drinks are fine. If you do drink water, supposedly rain storms will open up on your head during the year to come.
Chinese families gather on New Year’s Eve to have a family dinner. This is the chinese equivalent of Christmas or Thanksgiving. Families gather from around the globe to catch up on old news and talk of plans for future.
Hair is to remain unwashed (yuck!) for the entire period of New Years. ( I have no clue why…)
Firecrackers and the lion/dragon dances are supposed to drive away the evil spirits. (Come visit chinatown during the New Years and I believe that there are lion dances on the weekend…)
Red envelopes containing money are given out to children. (Instead of presents… Cold Hard Cash. Yea, baby!) Usually these envelopes are given to younger relatives and sons & daughters of close family friends.
Paper money and paper “possessions” are burned as sacrifices to ancestors and the various deities to honor them and hopefully have them put in a good word for your plans and fortune. Food is also cooked and left out overnight with the light left on for good spirits to come and eat their fill. (Unsure if this is New Year tradition or not…)
Dunno if I missed any, or if there is any variation among all the chinese ethnic groups… feel free to fill in any tradition tidbits or any family traditions you’d like to share.
ditto!! =D
answering your question on my xanga:
yes, the guy was seriously stalking me in wal-mart. Like creepy stalking.
Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year in mandarin).
Other traditions:
It is traditional to have “Nian Cai” which literally means “Yearly Vegetables/Dishes”. Each dish is part of an old Chinese saying that relates to New Year and the wishes for the upcoming year. For instance:
Fish: Nian Nian You Yu = year year have profit (chinese “yu” is same sound for fish and profit)
Noodles = long life noodles
Those are the only ones I know. If you break something, they say “Sui Sui Ping An” which means “every year peace” (“sui” is the same sound for “shatter” and “age”).
happy new year!
Non-creepy stalking = friends that are being silly.
Happy New Year!!!!!!!!! and many many wishes 🙂
Hahahaha ok, so aparently, if you’re still single (YEAH milk it, baby!!!! 🙂 ) you’re still considered a “kid” for red envelope purposes ;)…NEVER getting married Jan. – Feb. hahaha 😉
also I like to follow up the Gung Hai Fat Choi ! with Houn Bao Na Lai (bring on the Red Envelope 😉 ) hahaha yes, I’m B-A-D 😉
yes, yes it does suck :p
happy chinese new year dude!
hi hon,
i got your sms email about confirmation. i tried to confirm it, but it doesn’t work for me for some reason. do you know why? please let me know so i can confirm on your sms network friendship list & also, i got to confirm on billy’s too.
thanx!
Happy Chinese New Year
gong xi fa cai!! =] i think that’s how spell it in mandarin….
Dude! bro! Gong Hei Fatt Choi to you as well ! Where did you get this tidbits from? The other one I know is “you are not allow to wash your hair on New Year”. But one of those matter ! Lai si lei lei !! haha.. Just hand over that Ang Bao (Red Pocket) and no one with get hurt !! As you put it so well, Bro.. Cold hard cash !! hahaa.. :headbanger:
Happy New Years!!! Thanks for the tidbit because when I read this last time, I was about to clean my room right after New years. I heard u guys were having a New Years thing on Saturday!! If not, I definitely wanted you over.