Chinese New Year for the typical Chinese Malaysian family is kind of like a combination of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day all rolled into one.
Thanksgiving: on Chinese New Year Eve, all the grown boys & their families, and unmarried girls go home to their parents' house for a big reunion dinner. (You traditionally visit the married girls' parents on the 2nd day,though due to logistics and circumstances, we actually visited Juliane's father after leaving my parents' house on the 1st day this year.)
Christmas: The married people give the unmarried people red packets containing money "ang pau". ("ang" = red, "pau" = wrapped/wrapping.)
New Year's Day: It is the Spring Festival, signifying a new year in the Chinese Lunar Calendar.
Click on the photo above to see the full album of photos with photos of some of the traditions as well.
