Gong Xi Fa Cai

Or Happy New Year as we say, today is the eve of the Chinese New Year and everyone is very excited. There are so many traditions and festivities to take in that it would take too long to write it all down - and I don't know them either, but I'll try to include a few below:

Oranges
Everywhere you go there are loads of oranges to be seen. From little trees full of minature oranges, to boxes of them being sold every where you turn. Charlotte's mum has already recieved several boxes of them and they are piled up in fruit baskets around the house. No, the Singaporeans aren't citrus mad, but oranges are said to signify gold and it is a sign of prosperity to have pieces of gold lying around the house at the New Year.

It is also traditional to give and recieve oranges (in pairs), especially to older people when you go visiting which leads to the second tradition...

Hong Bao

The Chinese generally don't celebrate Christmas (as they generally aren't Christians) so there isn't a time of year where gifts are exchanged in the way that we know. Instead people give and recieve red packets or Hong Bao. I'm still figuring out the intricate rules of who gives what, when and how much but I think that the general view is that if you aren't Chinese, then you aren't expected to give anything.

Flowers
The Chinese New Year is also known as the Lunar new year and as such is also considered to be the first day of Spring. And everyone knows that Spring means flowers, and since Singapore is on the equator (almost), there isn't really a problem with getting loads of flowers for the festivities. What flowers are around changes with fashion but this year there is definately a tendancy towards these...

Forgot the name	Lucky Bamboo

And many more
The food (I'll tell you later after the meal this evening), cleaning your house so that you will have good luck in the coming year, visiting family and friends, playing mahjong etc. 2005 is the year of the rooster so there are loads of rooster signs everywhere... so much to see, so little time...