Tonight is the last night of the Year of the sheep. It's been a pretty woolly year for me. My stash has increased significantly, so let's hope the monkey year will be one of great production.
Chinese New Year is a wonderful time. It's very family oriented. It's about the generations coming together and paying their respects to their ancestors and the household gods. The married members of the family distribute red envelops with money to all the unmarried people. I think I'm going to have great delight in torturing one of my favorite cousins. He's a successful, unmarried chap, about 15 years older than me. He's very embarassed by this ritual, since he used to change my diapers and getting a $2 pair of red envelops from me, just seems wrong to him.
There are an awful lot of things that must be done before the New Year's Eve. The house should be cleaned and all cleaning things put away. There should be no cleaning now until after the New Year. (perfect excuse to just knit over the next few days ). After the New Year, the house should be swept. All the dirt and dust must be swept inwards into the main living space. All the dirt and dust must then be swept into the corners of the room (and not be stepped on). On the 5th day of the new year, this dust can be removed by being carried out through the back door. Chinese people never sweep dirt out into the street. Even when sweeping my drive, I always dispose of the dirt using a dustpin. This is supposed to prevent good fortune from being swept out of the family. The individual behaviour will set the tone for the rest of the year, so it's very imporant to act as how you would like the rest of the year to be.
The monkey is one of the most auspicious creatures (along with dragon) on the chinese zodiac and there's usually a surge in babies being born during this year.
Now, don't forget to wish everyone a Gung Hay Fat Choy, which means "congratulations on prospering in money"... and if you're not married, don't forget to ask for your lai-see (red envelop). The presumption is, that you are prosperous and for the new year, show your generosity!
Gung Hay Fat Choy to you all!
Posted by atu at January 21, 2004 08:40 PMGung Hay Fat Choy to you also, Polly ! It was realy interresting to read about Chinese New Year.
Posted by: Catherine (Brussels) at January 22, 2004 10:37 PMHappy New Year, Gung Hay Fat Choy! :)
I will not clean in your honor....
Gung Hay Fat Choy Polly! Enjoy all that red food too!
You give the unwed red envelopes, we douse them in spices. Why is it always the bachelors who get it?
Posted by: Thomas at January 22, 2004 08:21 PMThanks for that, Polly. I really enjoyed reading it, and it certainly put me in the picture.
So, Gung Hay Fat Choy and may I add a Scottish greeting, "Lang May Yer Lum Reek" ("Long may your chimney smoke" - may you always have plenty of fuel[prosperity] )
All the best,
Kathleen D (Rowan Int)
No cleaning til after New Year? Now that's my kinda tradition :)
Thanks for the neat, interesting post.
Gung Hay Fat Chow to you and yours, Polly!!
Same to you!! I'll call up my sister right away and ask after my envelope ;)
Posted by: Kathleen at January 22, 2004 04:50 PMGung Hay Fat Choy. Thank you so much for this post. It was fascinating and I enjoyed. Gung Hay Fat Choy. My guess is that one can never say that enough.
Posted by: elisabeth at January 22, 2004 03:22 PMGung Hay Fat Choy to you and yours dear Poly.
Have a great trip home.
Gung Hay Fat Choy to you as well Polly. Enjoy NYC.
Gung Hay Fat Choy to you, dear Polly, safe journey to NY and come back soon.
Posted by: Jill at January 22, 2004 02:18 PMCleaning? I don't much of that, so it's not like I'll get a LOT more knitting time
Carol - nice bit of trivia.
Jo - Awesome ... both you and Wendy are going to have cheeky monkeys... monkeys are best controlled by feeding their vanity
Carolyn - I'm a monkey too..... and I'm convinced that it's going to be MY year too :-)
Tickets...YIPES! I knew there was something that I was supposed to do this morning.
Posted by: Polly at January 22, 2004 01:21 PMGung Hay Fat Choy Polly!
Have a great time spending all that cleaning time knitting!
So, my baby's going to be a monkey, then? Am I going to be in for trouble or what? (I'm an Ox) - I can just see him running rings around me in a year or two!
Hope you have a great time with family & friends over the holiday.
Jo
xxx
Gung Hay Fat Choy to you too. I particularly like the non-cleaning period, i must say. Have a safe trip to NY. Hugs,
Posted by: Stéphanie at January 22, 2004 08:34 AMGung Hay Fat Choy! Polly.
Posted by: Duc at January 22, 2004 06:37 AMI never knew how the red envelopes worked. It's so interesting!
Happy Monkey Year and congratulations on prospering in yarn, I mean money. xox Kay
Posted by: Kay at January 22, 2004 05:18 AMAnd the same to you, my dear!
Posted by: Theresa at January 22, 2004 02:13 AMgung hay fat choy polly!!! i'm a monkey so i'm very excited and am completely convinced that this will be MY YEAR!!! wooo hoooo. nad hello i'm not married -- let's have all my red envelopes please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: carolyn at January 22, 2004 12:40 AMGung Hay Fat Choy Polly!
a bit of trivia - The girl in David Bowies 'China Girl' video was from NZ!
Posted by: Carol W at January 21, 2004 11:28 PMGung Hay Fat Choy, Polly. Did you manage a ticket to NYC???
Posted by: Lesley at January 21, 2004 10:43 PMGung Hay Fat Choy to you too, Polly. No cleaning till after New Year? How wonderful.
Posted by: Louise at January 21, 2004 10:34 PM