How do you celebrate New Year in your country? The Chinese New Year always brings great happiness to everyone in China, including those who relocate to another country, too. People wear new clothes, visit friends, and have dinner with all family members and distant relatives. Receiving an ornate red envelopes was a favorite time for me to collect money. The elders give money to the youngsters in a red envelope. Even though I moved to the United States and we celebrate the New Year here, my family still continues to celebrate the Chinese New Year as a way of staying connected to our culture and traditional values. Furthermore, in China, we celebrate two new years. One is the New Year on December 31st, and the other one is Chinese New Year, but the time is different every year, because we use the lunar calendar. The youngsters get the red envelopes during Chinese New Year. The red envelope represents luck and happiness for the next year. People put money in the red envelopes, and it is usually 50 dollars or more, but the money is always a whole number. The envelopes have different designs, and having differing meanings, and they usually means good luck, or having a peaceful and happy year. The elders always give red envelopes to kids, when I went with my parents to visit their friends during the Chinese New Year, I get red envelopes every time. But, when the kids are young the parents always collected it, and save the money. Overall, giving out red envelopes was part of Chinese culture. It contains good wishes to every person for the new year.

– Krystal Chen

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