Chinese New Year

Did you notice a few weeks before Chinese New Year, all shops and supermarkets would be packed with lots of people purchasing New Year goods? To me, Chinese New Year is a very special and important occasion. For it is a big day, for all family and relatives would gather together to have meals and taking the opportunities to chat up, building up better bonding with one another.
Chinese New Year is a long event that lasts for fifteen days. Within these period of time, we were forbade to say anything inauspicious, and also had to clear all debts, not owning anyone anything. On the eve, we had to clean up the house and it is believed that by doing so, we could sweep away the bad luck. After that all family members could gather back together and eat reunion dinner. This is also the day when children stay awake throughout the night to pray for good health and longevity for their parents, which is known as ‘shuo sui’.
On the first day of Chinese New Year, everyone was to wear new clothes and welcome the god of wealth. Besides that, early in the morning relatives and friends would come knocking the door and visit your house with tangerines and words of blessing. Elderly then would give out red packets to children and those unmarried. On the second day, married daughters would return home to reunite with their families. For the following days, the people would continue their visits to different houses giving words of blessing, red packets to children and staying over for meals. Usually, the traditional is eating steamboats, whereby everyone sat round the table and eats together. Within this period of event, there is the jade emperor, which is the seventh day. This day is known as ‘Ren Ri’ for it is also said to be everyone’s birthday. On this particular day, we would have raw fish salad, known as ‘Yu Sheng’. Whereby everyone would crowd around the big plate of raw fish salad and keep tossing. Meanwhile they will shout out words of blessing, such as hopes for a smooth journey for the year, good fortune and prosperity.
Lastly, this is the fifteen and last day of Chinese New Year, known as ‘Yuan Xiao Jie’. Grandmothers, mothers and aunty would prepare ‘Tang yuan’ for the family to eat. It ias defined that the number of ‘tang yuan’ we eat depend on how old we are. Example, if one is fifteen years old, he would have to eat fifteen balls of ‘tang yuan’. Can you image if you are a forty-two years old, old man you would have to finish forty two balls of ‘tang yuan’. But for the modern time we are in now, people usually don’t go for superstitious things like this.