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Red envelopes are handed out to younger generations by their parents, grandparents, relatives, and even close neighbors and friends during Chinese New Year. At some companies, workers may also receive a year-end cash bonus tucked inside a red envelope. Red envelopes are also popular gifts for weddings and birthdays. When giving someone a red envelope, us

e both hands to present the red envelope to the recipient. Giving and receiving red envelopes, gifts, and even business cards is a solemn act. Therefore, red envelopes, gifts and name cards are always presented with both hands and also received with both hands.The recipient of a red envelope at Chinese New Year or on his or her birthday should not open it in front of the giver. At Chinese weddings, the procedure is different. At a Chinese wedding, there is a table at the entrance of the wedding reception where guests give their red envelopes to attendants and sign their names on a large scroll. The attendants will immediately open the envelope, count the money inside, and record it on a register next to the guests’ names.A record is kept of how much each guest gives to the newlyweds. This is done for several reasons. One reason is bookkeeping. A record insures the newlyweds know how much each guest gave and can verify the amount of money they receive at the end of the wedding from the attendants is the same as what the guests brought. Another reason is that when unmarried guests eventually get married, the bride and groom are typically obliged to give the guest more money than

money than

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays and is celebrated as the Spring Festival

The Chinese New Year is based on the Chinese Calendar which complies with the phases of the moon. According to this, Chinese New Year begins on the first day of the first lunar month of the Chinese Calendar

may vary regional

The color of Red in chinese culture usually means good luck. So like the red packet which is given every Chinese New Year, is just a symbol of good luck in the coming Year. So it is not wise for you to wear red color shirts when you attend a funeral. Golden or yellow color is traditionally the color used in imperial service. The golden color symbolizes wealth and also happiness. Red is also a color in Chinese weddings, because in wedding they tend to be happy and by wearing red things, will help the couple who are getting married chasing out the bad luck on the day they're getting married. Red in here means good luck, happiness, joy, and for the couple, this red color is regarded an energy as red symbolize

joy, and for the couple, this red color is regarded an energy as red symboliz

the Fire element in Chinese metaphysics.

Falling on the 15th day of the first lunar month, Lantern Festival is the first significant festival after Spring Festival, so called because the most important activity during the night of the event is watching lanterns

it is regarded as the most recreational among all the Chinese festivals and a festival for appreciating the bright full moon, and family reunion.

including watching lanterns and fireworks, guessing lantern riddles, performing folk dances, and eating yuanxiao

Lantern Festival is called Yuan Xiao festival

first lunar month is called yuan-month

night Xiao

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25), it had become a festival with great significance.

One emperor heard that Buddhist monks would watch sarira, or remains from the cremation of Buddha's body, and light lanterns to worship Buddha on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, so he ordered to light lanterns in the imperial palace and temples to show respect to Buddha on this day

Guessing lantern riddles"is an essential part of the Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift

Lantern Festival, also called Shangyuan Festival, is celebrated on January 15 of Chinese lunar calendar. It is the first full moon night in the Chinese lunar year, symbolizing the coming back of the spring. Lantern Festival may be regarded as the last day of Spring Festival, the new-year festival of China, in other words, the Spring Festival does not end until the Lantern Festival has passed

It is a Buddhist convention that the monks would visit sarira and lighten up lanterns to show respect to Buddha on Jan 15. Therefore, Emperors of that dynasty, who were determined to promote Buddhism, ordered people to lighten up lanterns in both palaces and temples on that night to show respect to Buddha

In the Song Dynasty, the custom of guessing riddles written on lanterns on Lantern Festival came into being and people at that time wrote riddles on paper strips and then pasted them on the colorful lanterns for others to appreciate and guess

« Back to China Chinese New Year Songs Discover the Chinese selection of traditional songs that can be heard being sung during New Years celebrations. .attachment-featured-image { float:left; vertical-align:text-top; } #video-bar { clear:both; }The Chinese really like to go all out when the moon indicates that the year is over and the new one is on its way. The New Year in China is based on the cycle of the moon because they make use of the lunar calendar. Although it’s never a full moon when it’s the new year you will still be hearing some howling in the form of Chinese new year songs.

It is no surprise that they have a selection of Chinese New Year songs that have been composed for the purpose of celebrating the coming of the New Year

aim to capture the nationalistic spirit of the Chinese people on the one side whereas on the other you have songs that are trying to describe the Chinese perspective of life and the way that they live it.

The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon

One legend tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decided when to inflict drought,storms, fafmine or pestilence upon human beings

Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tianguan is the Taoist god responsible for good fortune. His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainment. So followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune.

Traditionally, Red envelopes or red packets (Cantonese: lai sze or lai see) (利是, 利市 or 利事); (Mandarin: 'hóng bāo' (红包); Hokkien: 'ang pow' (POJ: âng-pau); Hakka: 'fung bao'; are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors. It is also common for adults or young couples to give red packets to children. Red packets are also known as 壓歲錢/压岁钱 (Ya Sui Qian, which was evolved from 壓祟錢/压祟钱, literally, the money used to suppress or put down the evil spirit ) during this period.[

Red packets almost always contain money, usually varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred. Per custom, the amount of money in the red packets should be of even numbers, as odd numbers are associated with cash given during funerals (帛金: Bai Jin). The number 8 is considered lucky (for its homophone for "wealth"), and $8 is commonly found in the red envelopes in the US. The number six (六, liù) is also very lucky as it sounds like 'smooth' (流, liú), in the sense of having a smooth year. Sometimes chocolate coins are found in the red packets

Odd and even numbers are determined by the first digit, rather than the last. Thirty and fifty, for example, are odd numbers, and are thus appropriate as funeral cash gifts. However, it is common and quite acceptable to have cash gifts in a red packet using a single bank note – with ten or fifty yuan bills used frequently. The act of requesting for red packets is normally called (Mandarin): 讨紅包, 要利是. (Cantonese): 逗利是. A married person would not turn down such a request as it would mean that he or she would be "out of luck" in the new year.

The customs that are practiced for the festival vary greatly depending on the country and region that you are visiting.