Reunion Dinner

Today is chu xi or Chinese New Year Eve. It is a day when family members will gather for the annual Reunion Dinner.

Why is it termed Reunion Dinner? Well, throughout the year members of the family are busy with their own things and have no time to meet. Some may even be working outstation or overseas. However, on this day, everyone will try his best to get back to his parents' house to be together again. This is indeed reunion for the family. Dinner for everyone present will be served then. Parents will be too happy to see their sons and daughters who are away most of the time chasing wealth or devoting their time to their own families, back home at least on Chinese New Year Eve.

Some parents will quietly place hong bao or red packets containing money under the pillows of their children as ya sui qian or money to ward off evil for the year. Their intention is good as they want their offspring to be safe throughout the new year.

Some modern parents do not know about the significance of the hong bao and only present them to their children on Chinese New Year as monetary gifts.

On chu xi, that is today, children will stay awake from 12.00 midnight until daybreak. The Chinese believe that if their children do this, they will have good health and longevity.