As mentioned, a CNY celebration reunites families, so one of the highlights of CNY is the reunion dinner. A reunion dinner is usually held on Chinese New Year’s eve, where the entire family of several generations sit, talk, and enjoy food together. But what food do they eat? 

Each traditional food served during a reunion dinner has different meanings. For instance, having hotpot or steamboat represents the family coming home together. Noodles that are longer than usual symbolises longevity. The Buddha’s Delight, a popular vegetarian dish with at least 8 ingredients, has its own auspicious symbolism. Even fruits served have auspicious meanings, like pineapple and mandarin oranges which represent wealth and luck. 

A popular tradition that stemmed from Malaysia is the yee sang or the Prosperity Toss. It’s essentially a raw-fish salad served as an appetiser consisting of strips of raw fish like salmon, shredded vegetables, and a variety of sauces. Once served, everyone at the table stands up to toss and mix all the ingredients as high as possible (the higher the better) while saying aloud auspicious greetings. So, get your chopsticks ready!

Every year is seen to be a new start and a fresh beginning. So, it’s a must to spring clean the house before CNY. The act of cleaning the house is believed to ward off evil spirits, bad luck, and negativity. But, that’s not all.

This is where the colour red comes into the picture. If you’ve noticed, CNY is celebrated with lots of red decorations, whether it’s red lanterns, red firecrackers, red scrolls, or red angpaos. 

According to Chinese beliefs, there are lucky colours, such as red, that’s seen to be an Ong (auspicious) colour, bringing prosperity, energy, and good luck to start the year afresh.

Besides the fascination towards red, other colours considered lucky are yellow (royalty) and green (wealth).

Every CNY, one of the most anticipated activities would be the angpao-giving session. Typically married relatives or even friends would give their unmarried family members and friends red packets containing money, known as an angpao in Hokkien or Hong bao in Mandarin, wishing everyone a safe and peaceful year.

In a legend in ancient China, it was believed that the act of giving eight coins wrapped in red paper would suppress a demon called Sui from terrorising children. The tradition has transcended since then to giving out red packets during CNY. 

The word ‘ang’ is a Hokkien word which represents red, and is also related to what we’ve mentioned above, bringing good luck and prosperity to everyone. The amount of money in the envelope varies, but would usually be even numbers, such as 8 which, according to Chinese numerology, represents wealth and 6 which symbolises smoothness.

Never prepare an angpao which ends with a number 4 because in many Chinese cultures the number rhymes with the word ‘death’ which represents bad luck and is highly inauspicious!

Firecrackers give a great festive feel, but that’s not the only reason it gets put out fireworks during CNY.

The legend behind the CNY fireworks is that that there’s a yearly beast called the Nian Shou that comes every year to eat livestock, crops, and even human beings on CNY eve.

One day, a wise old man noticed that the Nian Shou is afraid of loud noises and red colours. From then on, it became a Chinese tradition to put out fireworks, hang red lanterns, and red scrolls.

Apart from fireworks, lion and dragon dances are also widely seen during CNY as it’s also believed to bring good fortune and prosperity as well as drive away evil spirits.

So, you now know what to do if you need to scare a monster!