Chinese New Year's Day - Monday, 26th January 2009

Yesterday, Monday, 26th January 2009 was the first day of the Chinese Lunar Calendar - our New Year's Day. It is celebrated by the Chinese community in Asia ie China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and the small community of Chinese people living in Thailand, Indonesia, Philipines and many other countries in the world. It is interesting to know that Chinese people go every where to do business and I do not know exactly which countries they are in. If you travel to Europe you will find a Chinese restaurant in most cities. Chinese people celebrate by visiting their parents or elders in the family and also the temples to pray for good luck in the new year. The non-christians will pay their respect to their deceased parents at the temples where their ancestral memorial tablets are kept. It is customary for the parents or elders to give their children or friend's children red packets with cash (amount depends on the generosity and affordability of the giver). I noticed that some children in Singapore have become mercenary. They frown on red packets with small mounts of cash (eg $2) and may even complain of the small amount. The problem is that some parents earn a lot of money and because it is the trend to have few children they tend to spoil their children by giving what ever they want resulting in the children not knowing the value of money and how hard it can be to earn money. They have not been taught that the red packet is just a symbol of good luck for the receiver and that the content in the packet should not be so important. It is customary for married adults to give red packets to the children. Young men and young ladies who are not married may get red packets but in some families there is a unwritten rule that if they are working they are not entitled to receive red packets. This rule depends on the generosity of the giver. So a bachelor or spinster who is 30 or 40 years old may still receive red packets.



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