If you asked me, undeniable I was damn excited. Starting this year, I will be officially celebrating 2 festivals and apart of giving angpau, which I enjoying doing so since I started working; I learned a lot of customary ways of celebrating both festivals. For sure, CNY gives me more than I expected.
I remembered posted in my Facebook that I learned so much the ‘do’ and ‘don’t’ before, during and after CNY. My Chinese friends help me a lot by sms-ing and calling me just to ensure that I follow all the conventional ways of celebrating. Thanks to my mother in law too as had giving us more tips which I considered it as an enforcement than telling us on how the correct ways to celebrate the CNY =) *clever mommy*.
My hubby was the busiest one to remind me on the rules which I’m pretty sure that all of them were given by his mom hehehe. But thank God that he did not beautify our house in the conservative decoration. I’m sure that our cats are more than happy to put it all down and scratch it to the small pieces.
These are some of the rules to follows for CNY, incase if needed one:
Before CNY
1. Send the Mandarin Oranges to all the close family & relatives.
2. Decorate the house with some ‘good wealth’ posters.
3. Throw the rubbish only on the 28th day of the last month.
4. Put it some angpau (of course with $$ inside) in your house & moon cake.
5. Do not left your rice bowl empty, leave some to start the year.
6. Go shopping for some red or light color outfits which inclusive of your undies.
During CNY
1. Wear red or any light color. Black? No No No.
2. Wear the NEW outfits and NEW undies.
3. Do not sweep up the floor.
4. Do not hang the clothes up to the 3rd days
5. Do not wash your hair
6. Bring 4 or 6 oranges to those houses that you visited and return back 4 oranges to those who visit you with oranges.
After CNY
1. Return to work only on the good day as per prediction
2. Open the angpau only after the 15 day of CNY
Sorry, these are only rules that I can think of the moment. For sure, there are still a lot of rules in celebrating CNY. Some people may take this for granted and some will try hard to follows as it is. No matter how, the more you know, the better you can please the elders. Festivals have always been the source of joy and happiness. The vibrancy of colors, the mixture of different sounds, all create a feeling of excitement and enjoyment.
All the in-laws! I'm the darkest one! uwaaaa
Apart of conventional ways of celebrating; prayers, visiting friends and relatives, yee sang session, giving angpau; my mother in law wanted us to have a Tea Ceremony on the first day of CNY.
Tea Ceremony normally will be the main agenda at Chinese wedding, symbolic of the marriage consent from elders to the newlyweds. Since we did not do it during our wedding, I was certainly eager for the 2nd time. After serving the tea to the elders (his mom and siblings), they will need to give something to us in return. So, we had angpau, necklace, pendant and ear rings. *ehem*
Who said that we are not allowed for the angpau after wedding?
After all, I feel blessed to have an opportunity to celebrate two festivals in a year. Being in 2 families makes me wonder how God created the festival for a reason. We had so much fun in following the rules and having good time during the re-union dinner.
No matter how, festival are ideal to enhance family bonding and unity and being the strongest anchor in our lives holds all the flavors and aroma needed for the celebrations and silently echo the strong bond of love, the bond of blood that holds them all together. Many religious festivals also portray the family as the fundamental entity.
In spite of everything, home is where the heart is, and heart is where the festivities begin.
Gong Xi Fa Cai to all of you. May the Year of The Rabbit will brings you good health, wealthy, happiness and with many good returns.
Leap high & reach far!!
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