Gong Xi Fa Chai.. money money come!
Here’s a little observation: We Chinese are incredibly money minded.As you might now, it’s Chinese New year now… Chinese New year is typified by a few things, and just for the sake of some general information (and boring you to death with our culture), here is a few points to note:
- Red is considered auspicious, and black is a big no no. CNY wouldn’t be CNY if it were in purple or blue. Its supposed to be the colour feared by some beast wanting to swallow the sun. Don’t be caught wearing black in the 15 days of CNY unless you are ready to forfeit your ang pau’s.
- Ang paus… Literally means red packet. Probably the single most awaited thing on CNY. If Christmas is all about the gifts, then CNY is all about the ang paus.. or rather what’s in it. As far as I know, the tradition was to just give a red packet to others with a gift inside, any gift. But these days, put anything less then a RM10 note, and you’ll get all the ‘cheapskate’ slandering our money-obsessed generation can possibly dish out.
- Fire-crackers. Supposedly, our ancient forefathers, in a bid to scare away that fearsome beast wanting to swallow the sun, set of tons and tons of fire crackers, hoping that the loud sounds would scare it away. I guess it worked since we are all still around. I’m starting to think this beast isn’t that fearsome after all. A few loud bangs, and some red packets and this ferocious sun-eating beast scurry away?
- Fish! In every reunion dinner, the night before CNY, the family gathers around to have a …well.. reunion dinner. Its about the only time every single on gets a license to totally pig out and stuff yourselves silly. Food during the reunion dinner is as lavish as the family can afford, and fish is a MUST, because in Mandarin, the word fish sounds like ‘extra’, or ‘more than enough’ … basically, you have more to spare. So we eat fish in hopes that we will have more than enough of everything, during the coming year. (The same reason why Chinese people hate the number 4, since it sounds like the word ‘die’, and love the number 8, which sounds like the word ‘prosper’)
- Chinese New Year songs! Now, I don’t know about the rest of the world, but in Malaysia, these songs are a must have for shopping malls. Songs which are always there like Chai Sen dao (God of Prosperity Arrives..or whatever), Gong Xi Fa Chai, Gong Xi Nie….etc etc….
Which really brings me to my point; its all about MONEY. When 2 chinese meet on CNY, we wish each other Gong Xi Fa Chai.. may you be prosperous, or rather, may you get rich! When we sing our songs we go, Chai Sen Tao! God of prosperity is here! Also, the unmarried among us would naturally expect a certain red packet to be given. The Chinese are hard working people. They slog it out all year long, and when chinese new year comes, they take a big break. Commerce comes to a standstill in Malaysia the way it does only during the CNY celebrations. So what do they do when they finally take a break from making money? Talk and sing about money of course! Not that we are an uncaring lot, we just love our money so much. You earn it all year long, and you brag about it, all week long during CNY.
By comparison, look at the Aidilfitri celebrations in Malaysia. For one, even they have started to adopt some of our culture. For instance that green packet containing money that the elders give to the youngsters seem strangely familiar. They too have the town splashed in green and buy new cloths for to celebrate. Not that its copyright though. But at least, during Aidilfitti, they have Zakat (donation money for the poor) in which every Muslim is bound by morality and law to donate. At least they dont sing about how soon they are going to get rich! They dont sing about your thriving business or money coming your way. At least they have songs to remind them about the poor and less fortunate.
So, when you look at it that way, yeah, we are all about money. Not the we are all money minded individuals. But for some reason, as a whole, our culture is one that is centered around money. I heard someone say to me once. "The Malays are united when they are poor, Berat sama dipikul. But when they get rich, they fight over the money." But it is quite the opposite for the Chinese. "They are united by money. But when you don't have it anymore, they leave you for greener pastures." It may be an overstatement, it maybe be only part of the story, but there can be no denying that there is some truth in it.
Happy Chinese New Year. Wishing you a prosperous year ahead in the year of the Boar!
posted by Compulsive Blogger @ 9:02 am
Comments: 0
