The great New Year's Eve dinner feast is illustrious of both Chinese tastes and superstitions. Prawns will mean liveliness and happiness, or perhaps some dried oysters to symbolize all things good. The bigger the meal makes the upcoming year all the more plentiful. And don't forget to wear some red, because, according to Chinese folklore, this colour wards off evil spirits. The message for the year is peace and happiness for all family and friends.
Married couples give children and unmarried adults money in red envelopes.
Door to door greetings by whole families are is still a practice, and if there's any day to cast aside a grudge, it's this one. Animals and meaning Chinese New Year is also steeped in legend and spiritual meaning. One story is that when the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig were the only animals of all creation to respond to Buddha's summons on New Year's Day, each was honoured with a year that would bear its name. Another deals with the emperors of the heavens. These twelve animals won the race in that order, so then the years were named after the animals in a twelve year cycle.