It is that time of the year again, Lunar New Year! The celebrations at Chinatown in Singapore, are very lively every year and this year isn’t any different. As usual, the place is packed with people buying stuff for the Lunar New Year celebrations. Here in Singapore, most of the Lunar New Year goodies are sold along the road, from simple cookies to preserved duck. This year is the Year of the Earth Ox.
The shops along the roads of Chinatown are bursting with activity in this Lunar New Year. In fact in it not only local Singaporean Chinese there buying stuff, but also tourists looking to see how Lunar New Year is celebrated here. Traditionally, the snacks are to be given away they are also served as snack when relatives go visiting one another. At night, it won’t be surprising for find people still going out to visit their relatives.
Kids especially have it good, since this is the time that the red packets called hongbao 红包 are given to them. Even single adults can still receive the hongbaos from married couples. The contents of the hongbao is usually money. Of course, people do not just give away any kind of money. The numerical amount of the money has special significance too, it is important not to give away money with the number 4 in them which symbolizes death. The luckiest number is the number 8. It is also important that the money is in the form of crisp, new bills. So it is not surprising to hear that the bank would run out of new bills a few weeks before the Lunar New Year.
The Lunar New Year is typically celebrated for three days. Although some countries can take longer holidays to be with their family, most notable China, which gives a whole week of holiday to workers. One the down side, this put extreme pressure on transportation with long queues of people waiting to go home. One well publicized incident last year was when a huge snowstorm stranded millions of Chinese people on their way home to their families for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Whether of not I celebrate the Lunar New Year, it is a welcome respite from the pressure of work right now. I don’t get too many chances to relax like this these days. With the econmic crisis, it is especially important that we all emulate the attribute of the ox – very hardworking. Anyway, I wish everybody a happy and properous new Year of the Ox! Gong Xi Fa Cai! 恭喜发财!
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