Chinese New Year comes once a year on the lunar calendar. It is a time to look forward to a new beginning. We wish people luck, good health and of course prosperity. So, we give red packets （红包）for good luck and prosperity. Red colour is auspicious. We queue up at the banks for new dollar notes. Only new ones feel right for the occasion.
The mandarin oranges are a must have when we go visiting. Mandarin oranges represent “gold” from the way it sounded in dialect. With mandarin oranges and red packets, we are set for visiting our relatives. Some relatives we only see once a year.
As an extended family, we get together for reunion dinner at night and reunion lunch on the first day (初一). We are four generations and 34 in total.
We buy Chinese leeks and then wrap them up with red-packets. This is hung up near the kitchen area of our home. This tradition continues till today. Chinese leeks sounded like you have money to count every year in Hokkien dialect. Well this is a tradition for us!
