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Chinese New Year at Hotel Sentral
12th Feb 2010
Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Chap Goh Mei.
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries-old and gains significance with its multitude of myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.
In Malaysia, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. People will splash their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune before the New Year comes, in the hope to pave the way for new incoming good luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper cuttings and couplets with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. On the Eve of Chinese New Year, the Reunion dinner is a sumptuous feast for families. Chinese restaurants will be filled with families for dinner banquet and serving Fortune Yee Sang. Yee Sang is a variety of raw vegetables served with salmon fish and other seafood. This will be tossed high in the air by everyone around the table using chopsticks before consumption. Other popular dishes in this dinner will include such items as pork, ducks, chicken, abalone, and sweet delicacies.
There will also be lion dances during this festive period and small fireworks will be set off to drive away evil spirits. Red paper showing Chinese characters of prosperity and wealth are pasted either in front or inside the house. Ang-Pow or red packets containing money is given out to children, the single and the elderly. Open house is practised for visiting relatives and friends of various ethnic races. The New Year celebration goes on for fifteen days where the most merriment is evident on the first three days. The celebration ends with “Chap Goh Mei” on the fifteenth day.
God of Prosperity Appearance
Meet the God of Prosperity for more luck & good fortune in the year of Tiger
Lion Dance Performance
Usher in the auspicious year of Tiger with exhilarating lion dance performance at the Hotel Lobby.
Date:19th February 2010
Time: 11.30am
Venue: Hotel Lobby, Hotel Sentral
