This Feb. 8, the world celebrates the Chinese New Year and in line with the upcoming Year of the Monkey, the following are the traditions in other parts of the globe.
Children and unmarried adults expect to receive lucky red envelopes during the Lunar New Year. Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs President Irwin Li told CBC Canada that in China, a person got successful first, before he got married. According to Li, the envelopes are given by married people to pass on the wealth to those who needed it most.
It is believed that the envelopes, which contain $5 to $20 each, are intended to set a financial foundation to its recipient for them to achieve success. In children, Li said that giving them the red envelope would teach them how to save money and learn the virtue of building capital, as well as investing. For Li, the idea of good investing stretches to the workplace where red envelopes are sometimes given by employers to recognize good work as bonuses for their coworkers.
In line with the Chinese New Year celebration, some games are played as part of tradition and they include the Chinese fortune sticks, zodiac animal noises, and moon cake.
According to Activity Village, Chinese fortune sticks involve stick bundles placed in jars and are gently shaken until few sticks become stuck out above the rest or fell out. Children can make up their own with popsicle sticks, a snack can, paper, and pen. The snack can is decorated with paper, stickers, gold pen, or pain. The can is held upright and shaken gently until one or more sticks begin to stick out among the others. They are taken out and the number is looked, and the fortune is read from a booklet.
In playing the Chines zodiac animal noises, children can be made into groups or teams and an animal is assigned to two or more children. Then, at the facilitator's signal, everybody makes the noise and walks around the room looking for their partner or team.
Children are in a blindfold in Moon Cake. They are standing in the center of a drawn circle on the ground and they are turned three times to disorient them slightly. Then, they take four steps in any direction and they take off the blindfold to check the number of the segment of the circle they had landed in. The individual or the group who gets the highest number or total wins the game.
Fireworks and firecrackers are some of the main attractions in Chinese New Year, as per CBC Canada. They lighten up the holiday atmosphere, allowing people to enjoy. It is believed that lighting fireworks were originally done to scare away evil spirits and avoid bad luck for the rest of the year.
The new year is also known as the Spring Festival and it is determined by the lunisolar Chinese calendar; thus, the date changes yearly, according to Telegraph UK. As per the publication, the celebration typically starts the day before the New Year and continues until the Lantern Festival, which is the 15th day of the new year.
Overall, safety should always be part of people's priorities in any kind of celebration.
