Another first day of the year - it's nice to know that we have two chances to start the year. We just received our hong-bao and it came along with a story from our boss about the origin of the red envelope. Supposedly, red envelopes were floating around before it was associated with the New Year. Because of the monster, Nien, the people had to put into play numerous actions to defend themselves from the beast who would eat people at the beginning of the year. First, the color red must be displayed at the home to scare away the monster. Second, fireworks must be set off to again scare the monster. Then, the tradition of placing money in the red envelope came about. This was brought on because it seemed wise to put away money in hopes of being able to make a new start in case the monster should destroy your home and belongings. But of course, the younger ones would squander away this money drinking, gambling and feasting because tomorrow looked bleak as the chances of escaping the monster was close to nil. Thus the tradition of giving the red envelopes to children who do not really think of tomorrow and rather live in the moment of it all. It is the year of the Goat (sheep, ram - all are encompased by a single word).
2:15 PM | |
