Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the "Lunar New Year" by English speakers. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month or 正月 (pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th day; this day is called Lantern Festival or Chap-Goh-Mei in Hokkien dialet. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.
Celebrated by the ethnic Chinese all over the world, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese. Although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday in many Western countries, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations among the community and celebrate among families members. Chinese New Year is the time where family members visit each others to reunited their ties and bonding.
The celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will spend money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will range from pigs, to ducks, to chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes or commonly known as Ang-Pao. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.
This year, the Chinese New Year falls on 14 February 2010. 2010 is the year of the Tiger, which is also known as Geng Yin. how is Chinese New Year's day being determine? Well, it is the second New Moon after the winter solstice.
In the spirit of 1Malaysia, let us invite our colleagues, friends, families from all walks of lifes to visit our house. Invite our Malay and Indian friends and colleagues to our house and show them the meaning of Chinese New Year. It's about family, reunion, bonding and lots of love.
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