CONVERGENCE JAN-FEB2017

Chronicles
Chinese New Year
JANUARY 28
Turning
Back Time
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Chinese around the world will celebrate their New Year soon. But,
what takes place during the festivities?
In the first five days of the New Year,
people eat long noodles to symbolise
long life. On the 15th and final day of
the New Year, dumplings shaped like
the full moon are shared as a sign of
close family ties and that it is a day for
sharing and giving.
During the festival, businesses often
close as home and family become
principal focuses. House cleaning takes
place before the festival begins and is
meant to appease the gods who would
be coming down from heaven to make
inspections. Ritual sacrifices of food and
paper effigies are offered to gods and
ancestors. People post scrolls printed
with lucky messages on household
gates and set off firecrackers to frighten
evil spirits.
In Malaysia, the second largest ethnic
group in the country is the Chinese.
During Chinese New Year, common
sights are lion dances with firecrackers.
Both those celebrating and not
celebrating dress in their finest
traditional attire and present red
envelopes containing money known as
'angpow' packets, usually given to
children and unmarried adults by family
members. When it comes to food,
friends and family toss 'yee sang' to
signify prosperity and good health.
Also, the Chinese zodiac plays a
significant role as the cycle of twelve
stations or 'signs' along the apparent
path of the sun through the cosmos.
Each new year is marked by the
characteristics of one of the 12 zodiacal
animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon,
snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster,
dog and pig.
The year 2017 is the year of the rooster.
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