1♡ In most Eastern Asian countries, this is pretty much the biggest and longest holiday ever – Chinese New Year supposedly lasts for 15 days in total and that doesn’t include the few days of holiday right BEFORE Chinese New Year even starts. Super awesome because it is literally half a month packed full of celebrations (and absence from work/ school hehe)!
2♡ Everything is RED and BRIGHT and LOUD during Chinese New Year. I love all the traditional decorations because they are so symbolic and eye-catching! ♡
3♡ Chinese New Year is like Christmas, but BETTER – on top of gifts, you also get red envelopes from relatives and family friends which have cash inside! Well technically, if you are young and unmarried, you receive red envelopes, and if you are older and married – you are the one putting money inside the red envelopes and giving them out as a sign of prosperity and luck. Being the youngest (apart from my little brother) out of all my cousins and relatives in my family, I am the one receiving red envelopes all the time which makes me an extremely happy girl during Chinese New Year 😀 ♡
4♡ Chinese New Year gives me an excuse to stay at home or my relatives’ home doing absolutely nothing productive for a day or two 😀 Back when I was still living in Hong Kong, my parents and relatives would spend every single Chinese New Year playing Mahjong (a Chinese gambling game) for the ENTIRE day (literally from 8am to 8pm). I remember that as a kid while all the adults were busy playing their game, my cousins and I would binge watch television for the whole day until it was dinnertime. This sounds so lazy but I would definitley call it a family tradition 😛
5♡ On Chinese New Year – YOU EAT EVERYTHING. Everything from the rice dumplings your grandparents make to the goodies inside your Chinese Candy Box (It is a tradition for each family to have their own Chinese Candy Box packed full of candies, chocolate gold coins, nuts etc. in their home during Chinese New Year so that guests have something to munch on when they visit!). Even though I haven’t been in Hong Kong for the past few years during Chinese New Year, that didn’t stop me from eating roast duck and rice and all sorts of greasy Chinese food around the Holidays. Totally acceptable and justifiable in my opinion 😛
6♡ The idea of Chinese New Year is very largely based on bringing luck, blessing and prosperity to the coming year and it is also quite a superstitious holiday! I was born in the Year of the Pig and there are always books and television programmes in Hong Kong with Chinese fortune tellers telling people how their luck will be in the coming year based on their Chinese Zodiac. According to my mama, I should stick to female bosses and seniors this coming year in order to maximise my luck and success :O Ohhh – and apparently the Chinese God of Loneliness will be following me around so I will tend to get lonely… (Chinese traditions have a God for literally everything LOL). Pretty funny and I am not sure if I believe in those but I guess I will be sticking to female seniors! (What have I to lose anyway haha) ♡
7♡ Chinese New Year gives you a reason to buy flowers and plants – LOTS and LOTS of them! ♡ It is a big tradition for homes to have tons of beautiful plants, especially orchids, orange plants and peach blossoms during this time of the year because it is said that bright colours bring good luck and fortune for the coming year <3 It is also unacceptable to wear dark colour clothing during Chinese New Year for the same reason – hence traditional Chinese New Year clothing (aka. Qipao) being red in colour most of the time! ♡
8♡ Chinese New Year forces you to clean your home and your room right before the New Year because it is bad luck to have a messy environment at the start of the year. This basically gives me a reason and motivation to make sure everything is nice and tidy so that I will be blessed with a smooth and non-messy Year of the Monkey 😀
9♡ Chinese New Year is the most precious time of the year for Asian families because this is when all family members and relatives gather together to celebrate this very important festival. Since living in London, I have really missed spending time with family back in Hong Kong and experiencing the whole holiday season! It is great to have technology these days because I can always call up my family to wish them a Happy New Year 😀 My relatives are awesome as well because even though I am physically in London, they still remember me and give me red pockets every year hehe 😛 My parents usually keep those for me until I am back in Hong Kong during the Summer and that is when I open up all my red pockets and truly feel the festive vibes haha ♡
And last but not least…
10♡ I had no idea that Western beauty brands are doing special Chinese New Year packaging for their signature products to celebrate the Year of the Monkey but my friend Sharon tagged me on a Sephora post on Instagram where they showcased this amazing limited edition Givenchy Prisme Libre and I was SOLD. I have been looking for a face powder recently and this packaging totally lured me into buying the product!! I will be trying this product out really soon and will keep you guys posted on how I feel about it since I believe it is an identical product to the original Givency Prisme Libre in Mousseline Pastel and the only difference is the Chinese New Year packaging. Don’t even get me started on other special edition Chinese New Year products – like the Giorgio Armani Highlighting Palette… The packaging is to DIE for but £65 is a little too much to be spending on an impulse highlighter buy!
And that’s about it! I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this super long post of me raving about Chinese New Year haha 😀 It has always been one of the most celebrated holidays in Asia and Chinese New Year was a BIG DEAL for me growing up in Hong Kong as a kid so I hope you guys have enjoyed this little cultural post! ♡ I will be back on Friday with a super exciting beauty post for Valentine’s Day which I CANNOT WAIT to share with you all ♡ Whether you celebrate Chinese New Year or not, I hope you have had an awesome week so far and Happy Chinese New Year! ♡
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Love the packaging! And Chinese new year sounds really fun 🙂 x
– LS
http://www.sephira.dk
This is such a cool post. I haven't seen anything like it before. I wish I could experience a traditional Chinese New Year. Can't go wrong with a little red envelopes. :]
// ▲ itsCarmen.com ▲
What great and interesting traditions! I love the packaging too, so cool!!
Have a lovely weekend:)
Rosanna x
Rose's Rooftop
It really is a fun holiday hehe! <3
Thank youuu! It is definitely a holiday which is very different from anything else in the West <3 Red envelopes are the best 😀
Thank you! The traditions are definitely the best part about Chinese New Year hehe! Have a great weekend to you too! <3
Happy Chinese New Year! The Givenchy collection has stunning packaging!
xo
http://thepinkporcelaindoll.blogspot.it
This is such a cool and informative post! I never really knew that much about Chinese New Year but this makes it sound awesome! Enjoy they holiday!
xx Annie
http://www.somethingswellblog.com/
Thank you! 😀 I just tried the powder itself and I was very pleasantly surprised as well! <3
Awww thank you Annie! <3 I don't think a lot of people know that much about Chinese New Year traditions here so I really wanted to share my experiences 🙂 Have a great weekend! xx