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Chinese New Year
Happy Chinese New Year!
The Chinese New Year - the Year of the Ox - started
on 26 January 2009. At the heart of all the celebrations,
fireworks, flowers and food is the desire to drive away evil
spirits, sweep out the old and attract good luck. There are also
many traditional customs involving money. These include settling
debts by the close of the old year, giving a New Year bonus to
employees, and giving gifts of little red money envelopes.
These little red envelopes (hongbao in Mandarin,
laisee in Cantonese and angpow in Hokkien) are
usually given by adults to children, and by married people to their
unmarried friends. Many people like to give crisp new notes
straight from the bank. This has encouraged banks and other
businesses to produce money envelopes bearing their logo, as part
of their marketing strategy and service to customers.
The envelopes here range from the home-made to the very
commercial. Some contained just a few coins, others contained
several notes.