What are the traditional customs of Chinese New Year?

In Hong Kong, on the first day of Chinese New Year (7 Feb 08), you go and visit your dad's family & there you wish them happy new year...恭喜發財 etc...if you are single, the married couples will give you a pair of red pockets (red envelopes which the couple fills with money usually notes - HK$10), if you are married then...bad luck...you have to do all the giving...you go, visit & do the same all your relatives on your dad's side of the family...& have dinner with your closer relatives at the end of the day....it's just a time when you can spend and have fun with all your relatives...on the second day, you do the same thing but with your mum's family...yup...usually by the end of it...if you're single...you'll end up quite rich...lolz

some people may also wear new clothes to welcome the new year

some people, especially Buddist will not eat meat on the first day of chinese new year

there are lion dances on the streets...& firecrackers (it's banned from most places for safety reasons) & fireworks at night

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

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ly xi!