• 紅包(壓歲錢) Red Pack (or New Year Money)
Just as the practice of Christmas gift at Christmas in western world, giving Red Pack (or New Year Money) in New Year is a common practice of Chinese families.
Usually the Red Pack is contained in a ‘Red’ envelope because ‘Red’ signals ‘happiness’, ‘good luck’ and ‘energy’.
Giving Red Pack to ‘single’ members of the family (according to Chinese, a person without a partner is considered as a ‘single’,) is to wish it would bring them good luck. The money inside is to make them happy. It is not the amount that matters; it is the ‘Red Envelope’, the symbol of luck! Hence opening the envelope in front of the person who gave it is inappropriate.
‘Red Pack’ is more commonly known among Chinese as ‘Ya-Sui-Qien’ (壓歲錢) (New Year Money). The letter-by-letter translation of the Chinese term is ‘Suppress Age Money’. But the letter 歲 ‘Sui’ (Age) has a synonym 祟 meaning ‘Evil’, so it actually means ‘Suppress Evil Money’. This little pack would give the receiver a safe year.
Just as little kids in Western World believe that Santa Claus delivered the Christmas gifts under the Christmas Tree, Chinese youngsters found his/her ‘Ya-Sui-Qien’ under their pillow on New Year’s Day. Rumors said that the kids could use the money to bribe the evil away to make themselves safe.
• 團圓飯 New Year’s Eve Dinner
The New Year Eve Dinner is just like the Christmas dinner to Westerners. It is the time for the whole family to get together. Members, scattered around the world, would try their hardest to get back home to be with his/her parents and other family members, to have a joyful dinner together. The importance and the meaning of this dinner go without saying.
This year’s pre-Christmas bad weather in most parts of North America stranded thousands of people at the airport, on the highway to cause them missed this important dinner. Many were very upset and felt helpless.
There is no exception for Chinese New Year Eve dinner. People tend to use this dinner to say ‘thanks’ – youngsters would feel grateful what their parents and elders had done to them; and elders would feel relieved their endless and selfless effort to bring their youngsters up were paid off.
Northern Chinese prefer to have dumplings for their dinner while southerners prefer rice and many elaborate dishes. All these have to be prepared on December 30th. The laughter and chats were filled on every ally and streets. People were busy in their kitchen, the ‘kings and kongs’ of pots and pans would be heard miles away.
Most families would have ‘Hot Pot’ and ‘Fish’ on the dining table. The fire and heat of hot pot signal prosperity of the coming year; and the synonym of ‘fish’, 餘 ‘yu’ (remains) gives a good sign that you would never run out of anything in life.
Most people would also cook fried lobsters and shrimps that might ‘generate’ good business for the whole year.
The synonym of dumpling, 交 ‘jiao’ means ‘interchange’ – change old with new. The shape of dumpling is like a Gold Nugget (in Boat shape) that would signal a good fortune to come. Some families even wrapped a clean coin inside the dumping.
• 守歲 Watch the Year Go By
Each New Year’s Eve, millions glued to TV to watch the huge crystal ball dropped on Times Square in New York City. More than million people jammed the Time Square to witness the special moment each year.
Chinese also believe in watching the year go by and the arrival of the New Year. After the New Year Eve dinner, everyone in the family would stay to chat and/or to play until after the midnight before going to bed. Even the kids were allowed to break the family rule to keep this tradition.
I still remember our family’s tradition, i.e. my Dad would hand out the Red Pack after the dinner and everyone (from my 80-year-old Grandma to my 2-year-old youngest brother) would gather around a huge table to play ‘Black Jack’. Everyone would use his/her red pack money to ‘gamble’ a little. My Dad was always the ‘Dealer’ and at the end of game, just before midnight, everyone would be a joyful winner except Dad who was the sole loser. In a way he handed out us extra ‘Red Pack’ by way of losing at card game so everyone would be happier.
There was a story about the origin of this practice in history:
Thousands years ago, there was a wild animal called ‘Nien’ 年. It liked to ram the field on New Year’s Eve and ate human beings. People were scared each New Year’s Eve and kept a close eye on its appearance to escape its attack. Once the daylight broke people would relieve a huge sigh and walk out of their homes and houses to congratulate each other that they had survived another year.
In one year, ‘Nien’ ran into a small village where a newly-weds were spending their first night together in their new home. Everyone in the village was eaten by the animal except the newly-weds and a handful of young kids who were lighting firecrackers. The newly-weds’ house was decorated with all kind of ‘Red’ banners, strings, lanterns, curtains and cushions. Afterward people figured it out that ‘Nien’ was afraid of ‘Red’, ‘Fire’ and ‘Noise’. Starting from that year on, at each New Year Eve, people would light firecrackers, hang red banners, post red papers with lucky Chinese Character and light red candles in the house and ‘Nien’ disappeared since. Hence the phrase 過年 ‘Guo-Nien’ was born, that means ‘Over the Year’.
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