Kung Hei Fat Choi

which will begin with the Chinese New Year festivities on feb 7th, will hopefully become a great one - since I was born under the sign of the rat I am highly curious to see what surprises this year will hold for me.

Since the preparations for the festivities are already in full bloom, I would like to take the opportunity to tell you something about the traditions during Chinese New Year - it's also called the Lunar New Year and marks the begining of a new year according to the lunar calendar.

The City celebrates this Spring Festival with fireworks, the visit of the God of Fortune, the New Year Fair in Victoria Park plus Lion and Dragon Dances. Hong Kong is drowning in RED during these weeks since this is the dominant colour all around (decorations, flowers, etc.) because it's believed that evil fears RED and good luck can move in.

Home Decoration:
Chinese homes are usually decorated with peach blossoms which have small red envelopes hanging from their branches (means good relationship and good marriage) tangerine trees (tangerine in chinese happens to have the same pronounciation than the word "luck") oranges (same pronounciation as "gold or family reunion", has a round shape) bamboo (for wealth, improvement and promotions) daffodils (good health, good fortune) and orchids (fortune and wealth) - the flower market and Victoria Park are literally buried with these plants during the time around the Lunar New Year.

In addition, people put up red signs (spring couplets) with auspicious sayings everywhere around the house, the office, etc. There are too many to name them in detail but one of the so called Lucky Characters is the "fuk" sign which is always placed above/across the door upside down to "let luck arrive". People also wish each other Good Luck in various four letter words.

The majority of characters that I got translated from friends and my students at St. Francis circled all around: "gold & jade filling the hall", "flowers in bloom bring wealth & fame", "welcome wealth - let the treasure roll in", "wishing you prosperity and wealth" - meaning - MONEY, MONEY, MONEY which is one of the main mantras in China, appaling sometimes!

Since all the families and relatives visit each others homes during the festivities, they also have a "Tray of Togetherness" (don't ask me for the chinese expression, I forgot it already) filled with dry fruits, candies, golden coins (is a Must) melon seeds (is a Must) 2 mandarines in the centre and 2 red envelopes - every guest walking through the door is offered something from the tray and it has to be filled up at all times.

Food Specialities:
Traditional food choices during the CNY are - a New Year's Cake, Flower Seeds, Dried Oysters, Angel Hair, Glutinous Rice Balls, Pig Feet, Fish and Chicken - everything is eaten because once again the pronounciation of these words are related to lucky meanings in chinese characters - for a Westerner it's stunning how people can be that superstitious and even believe in things just because the words sound alike, tsssss...

Lai See:
Red packets/envelopes filled with money are given from married to unmarried people, from the older generation to the younger generation, from boss to staff, from regular customer to service provider and from vendor to client - it is very important not to include coins or odd amounts and the money has to be made of brandnew notes - can you picture these waiting lines in front of the HSBC Bank before Chinese New Year? They turn into mad houses during this time!

Do's and Don't's:
Before the New Year:

clean the house thoroughly and pay back all the debts

New Year's Eve:

have a family dinner, go to the NY Fair and wait for the New Year

day 1:

eat vegetarian food

day 2:

married women should visit her parents hous with their families

day 3:

make wishes, pray to God, visit temples

!! Do not visit other peoples home !!

day 7:

wish everyone a happy birthday

day 1 -15:

Do's: behave well; visit family, relatives and friends; give and receive Lai See; wear new clothes.

Don't's: sweep the floor, lend money, cry, wash or cut the hair, buy shoes, say "death", tell ghost stories, wear black or white (funeral colours) use knife or scissors.

day 15:

Go to the Lantern Festival Fair, eat sticky rice balls (Tong Yun) and celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day.

Now since you should be well prepared to move to China any time, I wish all of you

"Kung Hei Fat Choi" and "San Tai Gihn Hong" in the Year of the Rat !

(= Good Wealth & Good Health)