From Taiwan to Vietnam, Malaysia to China, millions of families are gathering to celebrate the start of the year of the rabbit
or billions of people across Asia and in Asian diaspora communities around the world, this weekend marks the beginning of the lunar new year celebrations, a two-week holiday marking the end of the Zodiac year of the Tiger, and ushering in the Year of the Rabbit – or Cat, if you are in. For the first few days commercial activity slows or stops, as people gather with their families. For many migrant workers in China, it is often the only time of the year they can return to home towns.
With that in mind, Lee Lih Wei says that the key things for his children, aged four and one, will be playing with the firecrackers, enjoying cookies and watching traditional lion dances. In elaborate and brightly coloured costumes, performances by lion dancers across the country are common during the build-up to the new year and are said to signify luck and prosperity.
“This year for New Year’s Eve, my uncle, aunt, and cousin will come to visit us from a town nearby,” she says. “We will have a big reunion dinner with traditional family dishes such as steamed pork with rice flour and bone broth together.”Photograph: Ma Li/Getty Images/iStockphoto Growing up, Xu and her cousin would excitedly finish their new year’s meal and then rush upstairs together, to count the money they had received in red packets as traditional gifts from their elder relatives. “ Even now we are grown, my cousin and I still receive red-pocket money,” she says.
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