Chinese New Year - The Year of the Pig

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Congratulations and be prosperous)

It's that time of the year again, Chinese New Year (locally known as CNY), when the country grinds to a halt for a week, everybody gorges on yee sang, bak kwa and pineapple tarts and a whole lot of gambling and 'yam sing' is performed. For us, it was a quiter affair than usual, this year, with the passing away of the wife's grandfather a few days before CNY. Even so, we had plenty to eat and drink and still managed to prise a few ringett from the relatives whilst playing cards (even a death in the family doesn't come between a man and the opportunity to gamble, over here!).

A Dummy's Guide To CNY:

I won't bore you with the history and customs involved in Chinese New Year, because I don't know them!, but if you genuinely interested, you can take a look here. That said, here is my quick 'expat' guide to CNY:

1. The actual celebrations last 15 days, although the first 3 are the most important as far as eating, drinking and gambling are concernced, so make sure you take these as holiday and enjoy.

2. If you are married you need to give out ang pow. If you're single you can receive (including adults), so, stay single as long as you can! it also seems that the Chinese like big families (in my wifes family there are 7 aunts on the mothers side, 7 brothers on the fathers side, countless cousins and children of cousins...thats a lot of ang pow!

3. Be prepared to eat LOTS of oranges. It's a big part of the custom and they are bought and given out, several boxes at a time.

4. Fireworks are prohibited by law, but don't let that fool you, you will still hear the sound of endless firecrackers going off at midnight each night. Not that this will affect you as you will still be up taking full advantage of point 1.