Monday, March 30, 2015

Chinese New Year: Present

The time of the year where children gets new clothes, adults get a personal loan.


Flash forward to the present: Kids nowadays are more materialistic because let's face it, Apple products aren't cheap!

Adults on the other hand are faced with the dilemma of whether to increase the content of the red packets. Why? Well, a tradition of well-wishes has now because a form of extortion, which (although unspoken, it kinda) translate to: Show me the money or I'll curse you for the rest of the year!

Yup, that's right folks. Kids now have the right to curse your marriage if you don't shower them with money love.

Unlike the good ol' days where kids are content with any amount they receive in those little red envelopes, modern-day kids are most likely to tear those things open in excitement and reveal its contents. When the amount is not what they expected it to be, say RM1, they will downright call you stingy and hope that the stingy bastard (meaning you) will have a bad year, or a bad marriage (since those who are eligible to give red packets have to be married couple). Parents of those children are really not helping to ease the situation either.

"Since they only give my kid X amount this year, we should give them the same amount next year."
When kids receive their red packets, they are now told by their parents to write down the name of the person who gave the red packet to them on the red envelope itself. So that when their kids open the red packet, they will know how much their children receive from who? Then karma will be a bitch next year.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Chinese New Year: Past

So what is Chinese New Year and what's the fuss all about?

Chinese New Year is supposedly the time for celebration. The day not only marked the start of the lunar calendar, it is also, according to the Chinese folklore, the day where a monstrous beast which comes out at night every year to devour children was successfully vanquished.

The beast, conveniently dubbed "nian shou", which literally means Annual Monster, was chased away using firecrackers.

A red packet, known as "ya sui qian", is given to children to congratulate them for making it through the year. Why red? Because the color red is a symbol of good luck. So you could say that it kinda translates to: "Congratulations for not getting eaten alive, you lucky bastard!"

As a thank-you for the red packets the adults showered them with, the children will in turn 'bless' the adult with well-wishes. Think of it as something like a spell, when a kid wishes you well, everything will be smooth flowing for the rest of the year. I'm not sure how many of those came true but more and more adults caught on and soon, everybody's doing it every year.

And so, it became a tradition which lasted until today.



To be continued...


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