All over the radio here in KL, I’ve been hearing “Gong Xi Fa Cai, Gong Xi Fa Cai”, which means Happy Chinese New Year or Happy CNY!  Chinese New Year is the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar and a huge holiday here in Malaysia, celebrated almost like Christmas in the U.S.  The festival begins on the first day of the first month in the traditional Chinese Lunar Calendar.  It’s a time when debts are paid, new clothes are purchased and houses are cleaned to sweep away any bad fortune to make way for good luck.  One of the most important events of CNY is the Reunion Dinner on Chinese New Year’s Eve, followed by Chinese New Year morning when people are greeted with red envelopes or ang pow filled with money.  The color red symbolizes fire, which according to legend, drives away bad luck.  So all over KL, the streets have been lined with red banners, flowers and lanterns welcoming in this holiday.  This year, 2012, is the year of the Dragon, a symbol of vitality, enthusiasm, intensity, exhilaration and good luck.  And a year I will never forget as I was startled when entering Pavilion Mall recently.  I looked up to see a massive red dragon’s face with a tail snaking behind him all the way up to the ceiling, 6 stories above!  What a sight!  Last year was the year of the Rabbit, and from what I can remember, the decorations seemed a bit more cuddly!  But the story is told that in ancient times Buddha asked all the animals in the land to gather and meet him on Chinese New Year, before he departed the earth.  Twelve animals came to bid him farewell so he decided to name a year after each one of them.  It’s believed that a person born in each animal’s year would possess some of that animal’s personality…”this is the animal that hides in your heart”.  If you were born in the year of the dragon, you are said to be innovative, brave and passionate!  So…what is your Chinese Zodiac Animal?

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!