新年快樂!

12:28 AM

Image by Nigo

Happy Chinese New Year! 2011 year of the rabbit!



Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year just to be inclusive) is celebrated by people right around the world. I'll refer to it as Chinese New Year just because everyone does, but be sure to note that Koreans and many other ethnic groups celebrate this holiday. 

Around my house, Chinese New Years isn't really all that big. We celebrate both the Gregorian New Year as well as the Lunisolar new year. The Chinese New Year is usually quite an important and long celebration. I've read that it's a 15 day long thing. My house only celebrates the first two to three days of it, though usually just the first. 


Unmarried people (children...usually) receive these red envelopes, known as 红包 (lai see, cantonese) from the married, i.e. parents, aunts and uncles and the like. It's considered good luck to give these, and the red is to ward off evil spirits. I've also heard that it's supposed to be something like a wish for future prosperity.

My house is multilingual. The...children (most of whom are over the age of 14) primarily speak English, while the adults speak Cantonese, Vietnamese, English as well as at least one other Chinese dialect (my mom speaks Hakka chinese). Since my family runs a Vietnamese restaurant, we usually just go with the Vietnamese new years greeting: Chúc mừng năm mới!

Anywho, excuse me while I get some sleep.

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