Chinese New Year

473 Words2 Pages
Malaysia is a multi racial country consisting of Malays, Chinese, Indians and numerous other ethnics. With this, come various religions, festivals, food and customs. "Open house" concept is practised by almost all races, which means inviting relatives and friends to partake in the food and festivity occasion. For the Chinese, one of the major festivals celebrated every year is Chinese New Year. It is the most important and looked forward to festival of the year. Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar and so every year the Chinese New Year falls on a different day. Chinese New Year is 15 days long, with preparations beginning long in advance. It is a time for family and friends and each year, no matter where they are living, each family member heads back to their hometown to celebrate with their family. The preparations begin ten days before Chinese New Year’s Day by cleaning and decorating the house. New Year's Greetings in the forms of cards and letters are sent to friends and family living far away. The entire family would get together to clean their homes from top to bottom so that they could begin the year clean and fresh in the hopes that the next year would be healthy and happy. On th Chinese New Year’s Eve, a huge family reunion dinner is held with a lot of food. The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and traditionally includes dishes of meat and fish. Most reunion dinners also feature a hot pot as it signified the coming together of the family members for the meal. Luo shang which consists of sliced vegetables, sesame seeds, peanuts and sweet and sour sauce symbolize good luck and fortune for the upcoming year. Dishes like nian gao and yong tau fu are also really popular among the Chinese. In the early morning of Chinese New Year's Day each person puts on new clothing and cooks many dishes. The food is taken to pay respect to the
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