HARD WORK BEFORE CNY CELEBRATIONS
In a few days, we will be welcoming the Year of the Money. Chinese New Year is one of the most anticipated festivals in Singapore and is a joyous occasion for catching up and celebrating with family members and friends near and far.
However, there are many traditions related to CNY and the Chinese people believe that to enjoy a fulfilling and successful year ahead, some of these traditions must be upheld. That means that if you haven’t already, you must now go full steam ahead with the CNY preparations before you kick back and enjoy the coming festivities.
Since most of the younger generation of Chinese seem to have lost touch with what these traditions are, we would like to give everyone a mini-refresher, so that we can all enjoy an auspicious year of the Monkey!
Here is our list of Top 5 MUST DOs to get you ready:
- Spring Cleaning – In a nutshell, tidy up your living space. Declutter the house. Sweep, dust, mop. Get rid of old clothes that you no longer wear, throw out all the old (or expired) and unnecessary things that are of no value to you. Best yet, donate them. We are sure that there are people who will appreciate this generous gesture. CNY SPRING CLEAN A TIME TO DE-CLUTTER
- CNY Home Decorations – Red is the colour of luck. Gold symbolises wealth and fortune. For this occasion, tastefully decorate our home with traditional CNY ornaments in these hues to usher in good luck in the coming year. These can easily be found in Chinatown and your local shopping mall.
- New Clothes – Another fabulous excuse to introduce new items into your wardrobe. Since we’re talking about the new year, we must wear new clothes. That’s a no brainer. But remember, since this is a happy occasion, shop only for bright, uplifting colours. That means no black. CELEBRATE THIS LUNAR NEW YEAR WITH SHANGHAI TANG
- CNY Goodies – CNY is not complete without these. Mouth-watering goodies that symbolise all things good and auspicious like pineapple tarts, love letters, bak kwa, candies, etc. must be enjoyed and shared at this time. Be careful not to over indulge though – they are dangerously delicious and could thicken your waistline. NESCAF DOLCE GUSTO CNY FLAVOUR
- Red Packets – An important custom and the reason children LOVE this occasion. Red Packets are filled with blessings and more importantly, money. They are given by married people to children (and single adults) to wish them luck in the coming year. A great reason to stay single 🙂 Red Packet givers, the money inside has to be new notes. So go to the bank ahead of time to avoid long queues. NO MONKEY BUSINESS RED PACKETS ANG PAO 2016
I do agree with you, youngsters tend to take light of tradtions and want to do away with them. Some things just need to be done and tradtions observed during CNY. Thanks for the tips!
ALL DONE! =D
My most favourite tradition is to shop for goodies and clothes and most dreaded? Spring cleaning. HAHAHA. Happy CNY to you, Kat!
Mostly done. We don't decorate our house with CNY trimmings because we are traveling to KL to see my family!
gosh. . as I'm reading this.. I'm not even half done on the list. am still in the midst of spring cleaning!
I love CNYs and this year, we spring-cleaned our home and decorated it right after Christmas. The only thing left is for me to pack the red packets and fill it with money 🙂 Happy CNY to you!
I've done 4/5 of these. I MUST WORK HARDER
Oh no, I haven't prepared for CNY yet!
Hope you had a great CNY celebration with your family. Gong Xi Fa Cai!