Hey, Fiona, how’s it going today?
I’m great, thanks!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year?
But, today is not January 1st .
It’s Chinese New Year here in Taiwan,
so we welcome the New Year in the lunar calendar.
Oh, Okay!
In my country, the UK, we celebrate New Year on December 31st and January 1st.
Yeah, we do that in Taiwan, too.
But not so much as Chinese New Year.
Okay, so, what do you guys do at Chinese New Year?
Well, we will clean the house first.
Then, put up some spring couplets.
After that, we have New Year’s Eve Dinner with family.
And then my favorite part!
Well, what’s that?
We get lucky money in red envelope!
Wow! Cool! Thanks so much! That’s awesome.
Hey! Give me that back. It’s mine.
Don’t cry! Don’t cry!
I was just having some fun. It’s just a joke.
If you want to get lucky money,
you should say New Year blessings to elders.
OK. So, can you teach me some popular New Year blessings?
No problem.
You can say “新年快樂、萬事如意”
It means “wishing you a happy new year and may everything go as you hope.”
“新年快樂、萬事如意” That’s too easy.
Hey, I heard a lot of people saying “恭喜發財、紅包拿來”
What does that mean?
It means “wishing you wealth, and give me that money
RIGHT NOW!”
That’s the one that I need.
Hey, Christmas is very similar to Chinese New Year.
We eat dinner with family,
and we like to give gifts, and sometimes even money.
Yeah, I guess it is quite similar.
The important thing is spending time with your family.
Yeah, that’s right.
So, what kind of foods do you eat at Chinese New Year?
We eat a lot of things.
We eat fish because in Chinese it means we want to have enough money in the new year.
What? So, you mean by eating a fish you get money.
That sounds great to me.
Not really.
It’s just a New Year tradition.
We also eat New Year rice cake
because in Chinese it sounds like we want to get better and better.
So, what other things do you guys do at Chinese New Year that are really cool?
Shaun! Run!
Run? Running?
Why do you guys run at Chinese New Year?
No! I mean, run! Now!
Those are firecrackers!
That was fun, right!?
Yeah, I guess so.
Why you guys use those things?
We believe that it scares away evil spirits.
Yeah, and foreigners, too!