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Chinese New Year is the first day of the year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. Its a celebration for Chinese not only in Malaysia and Singapore but all over the world. The Year 2008 is the Brown Earth Rat Year.
Year 2008 is year of the Rat The year 2008, in the Hsia calendar, is symbolized by two elements – with earth sitting on top of water. The Rat belongs to the strongest water element and it is the first of the 12 animal signs. It also represents the beginning of a new 12 years cycle. ( In Chinese Astrology, the Chinese calendar has a twelve year cycle and each year is named after an animal – forming the 12 animal signs). The Year 2008 is a the Brown Earth Rat Year. As Earth is equivalent to the colour brown in the Five-Element system, 2008 is also called the Brown Rat year. Chinese New Year in Malaysia and Singapore Preparation for this festival starts well before the day of the celebration. Before the old year (Luna calendar) ends, it is a custom for Chinese to spring clean or even paint their houses. Actual celebrations start on the day before the New Year, where family members gather for a reunion dinner.
The most important festival for the Hokkiens in Malaysia and Singapore is the Festival of the Jade Emperor, celebrated on the 9th day of the new year. The New Year celebrations traditionally extend to 15 days, where the 15th day is the Chap Goh Meh festival. What Malaysians and Singaporeans normally do:
Before Chinese New Year | Clean the house - spring cleaning. Prepare Chinese New Year Cakes, cookies or biscuits (e.g. kueh kapit or love letters, kueh bulu, kueh bunga, etc). Shop for new clothes, curtains, Chinese New Year decoration, food, new year gifts, etc. Stock up food for the long holidays as most shops and markets stalls are closed. Balik Kampong or go back to their family home or hometown. A must have family reunion dinner is held on Chinese New Year Eve. Its usually at home or at a restaurant. Visit the temple to offer prayers Receive bonus - mainly if you work in a Chinese owned company. | Chinese New Year | Dress up, family gather to pay respect and good wishes. Visit the temple to offer prayers. Visit relatives and Chinese friends, and offer mandarin oranges, cookies and New Year wishes. Have open houses, invite friends and relatives to eat and feast on New Year cookies and celebrate. While adults give out ang pow (red packets), children receive them. Eating and feasting on cakes and other New Year dishes. Go for holidays, see a show, movies, etc Dinning and shopping New year is also a time where many gambles - usually a friendly game of cards among friends and relatives! | Beliefs | Cleaning the house - A traditional belief of sweeping out the ill fortune of the old year. Sweeping out is not recommended on New Year's Day for fear of sweeping away the good fortune that the new year brings. Debts - Settling or paying off old debts and collect what is owed to you before the new year, so your fortunes are not lost and you will prosper. |
Temples are also crowded in the morning of the New Year where many offer prayers to ancestors and the gods and ask for blessing for a good year. On Chinese New Year day relatives and friends visit each other to offer their good wishes and it is customary to give mandarin oranges during a visit, as a token of good luck and prosperity. New year gifts of food (s.a. cookies, dates, oranges, liquor, groundnuts, etc.) are also exchange between relatives, friends and business associates. Married couples are obliged to give red packets filled with money (called Angpow in Hokkien or Hong bao in Mandarin) to children of relatives or friends. Many Chinese Malaysians will travel back to their hometown or family homes for this day. The reunion dinner is the a major celebration and gathering for the family - a once a year affair for many who have children working out of town. Many Taoists and Buddhist Chinese will go to the temple to pray for blessings for a good year. |
