Chinese New Year Series – What will we do in the Chinese New Year’s Eve in Hong Kong? 新年系列 – 香港的大年三十除夕晚會做什麼？

Kung Hei Fat Choy! Wish every steemian Happy LNY New Year! Get all your wishes! Find your couple! And Steem rises and rises! In these few days, I would like to tell you something about the Lunar New Year (LNY)!

恭喜發財，小弟在此祝大家狗年快樂、心想事成、佳偶成對、Steem幣狂升！難得農曆新年來臨，我們就不妨說一說新年的習俗吧！

(photo source: http://www.tooopen.com/view/1679367.html)

The LNY, or the CNY which stand for Chinese New Year, is an important festival of China and the East Asian cultural sphere! It is the New Year of the Lunar Calender, which was used in China and spread to East Asian in the history. People in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. all take it one of the most important festivals and have celebration. There are lot of Chinese New Year’s Custom and Tradition and due to the cultural difference of cities in China, the custom varies in different country. So Today, I would like to talk about the CNY Custom of Hong Kong. And today is the CNY eve. Let me talk about the custom of CNY eve!

農曆新年是漢字文化圈的重要日子，不止中國，日本、韓國、越南、新加坡及馬來西亞等地都會慶祝農曆新年的到來！對於會中文的朋友來說，新年的習俗大家都應該很熟悉了，不過中國地大物博，加上華人遍佈全球，因各地的文化差異，各地的新年習俗都有不同的演變，這次，我就說說香港的新年習俗吧，今天先講年三十晚除夕的！

(photo source: http://www.waldenhotels.com/news/ins.php?index_id=176)

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Reunion Dinner 團年飯

(photo source: Apple Daily)

Reunion Dinner was a must have dinner in China. Every member of the family must go back home and have dinner together at the CNY eve. It means that the family will still stick together in the new year. But today, the families of Hong Kong are mostly small family and we like to have Reunion Dinner at Restaurant now. To avoid the crowd of Reunion Dinner, we may have it even earlier. Like me, I had my Reunion Dinner last week!

現在在香港仍然有團年飯的習俗，不論是家庭、公司、好友圈，團年飯仍是必不可少的事，不過，由於香港現在都向小家庭發展，加上不是每個家庭都愛在家煮飯，很多時候我們的團年飯都在外吃，而為了避開人群，我們都不一定會在除夕才吃團年飯，我的家庭早在上星期五就已經吃了！

Staying-up and CNY Fairs 守歲與年宵市場

People, People and People!
(Photo source: RTHK)

I remember when I was small, I loved CNY eve as I didn’t need to go to bed and stayed until almost sunrise! Staying-up is a tradition of CNY. The whole family won’t go to bed and wait for the sunset to welcome the first day of the New Year. Today, I don’t know about mainland China but this tradition had been lost in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, we like to go to the CNY Fairs after Reunion Dinner. The origin of CNY Fairs is the Flower Market as we like to buy flowers during the CNY. But now it becomes a fair that selling different kinds of stuffs. There are now 15 CNY fairs in HK this year and I have to say there are many many people!!!! At the mid night of the CNY eve, you will be just like in the train of Tokyo during the busy hours until 5am! So, I don’t go to CNY fair now…

還記得很小的時候，最愛就是除夕，因為那一天因年紀還小不能通宵，但可以很晚才睡覺！根據傳統，除夕的時候一家人都會留在家裡，守候到天光，就叫做「守歲」。不知內地的城市還有沒有這個習俗，不過香港就沒有了，通常在香港的除夕，我們都會逛年宵市場，年宵市場也叫花市，因為香港的年宵本就賣花為主，但現在大多都是古靈精怪的東西，吸引很多年輕人！而在香港最大的維多利亞公園年宵市場，大家更可體會到東京鐵路人夾人的情景，擠人的情況更會持續到早上五時，所以近年我都不去年宵了…

Race to offer the first incense stick the Wong Tai Sin Temple黃大仙上頭柱香

(photo source: Apple Daily)

If we don’t count the CNY Fair, Wong Tai Sin Temple is the crowded place of Hong Kong during the CNY eve. People are racing to offer the first incense stick. According to the traditional culture, when people offer the incense stick during CNY, they will be protected by God and everything goes well in the coming year. But now, the tradition becomes “offer the first incense stick of the temple”. Wong Tai Sin Temple of the most famous temple in Hong Kong, so people all crowd at Wong Tai Sin Temple to race to offer the first incense stick!

More information, starting from this year, Wong Tai Sin Temple provides e-donation service through Alipay. So don’t say you have no cash!

除了年宵市場，黃大仙廟是香港除夕另一個最擠迫的地方，因為大家都要趕著「上頭柱香」。根據傳統習俗，在新年第一天上香，是敬神的表現，會得到神明的保佑，這一年事事順境。不過不知道什麼時候開始，「上頭柱香」的意思變成了在爭著上在黃大仙廟的第一柱香，結果在除夕就已有大批善信守在黃大仙廟，等時辰一到，就衝著上頭柱香。

順帶一提，今年的黃大仙廟新增了支付寶添香油錢，以後你就沒有借口說沒現金了！

Red Packet 派利是

(photo source: esdlife.com)

I believe this tradition will still exist even after 1000 years XD. The red packet is a traditional gift from the old to the young during CNY. What is the gift? It’s cash! Once the CNY arrives, my mother will put two red packets under my pillow, HK$500 each. In tradition, married couple needs to give red packet to the junior. But I am getting older and I don’t have many red packets in recent years…Wish I may get more from clients from I get back to work.

More information again, in HK, we can give red packets through eWallet like WeChat Pay, ePay and Payme!

派利是就是發紅包了！我相信再過一千年，發紅包這個習俗仍不會消失XDD時至今日，我媽仍會在除夕後把紅包塞到我的枕頭下，不過年紀漸長，我收到的紅包也越來越少了，希望上班時多收一點客人的紅包吧！

又順帶一提，香港除了微信支付，ePay及PayMe都新增了電子利是功能。

Hair Cut 剪頭髮

(photo source: ettoday)

In Chinese tradition, we cannot have hair cut until the 15th of Lunar January. It is believed that our luck of the whole year will also be cut. Now, we seldom follow the tradition in Hong Kong. But, salons still like to price just before the CNY…

根據習俗，正月十五前都不能夠剪髮的，否則就會把新一年的發財都剪走了，不過近年的香港都不太守這個習俗了，我都有好幾年沒有在新年前剪頭髮，但是，香港很多髮形屋仍然會在臨近歲晚時加價……

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(photo source: togethere.com.tw)

There are still a lot of custom and tradition of CNY like bathing with pummelo leaf, wear new clothes, or hide the broom. But now we almost forget these small customs. I believe the kids now even don’t know about that. And how about you? Can you discover any CNY customs in your city?

其實除夕還有很多習俗，例如年廿九要柚子葉洗澡，年三十晚要換新衣什麼的，不過大家現在都沒所謂了，我甚至懷疑小孩的一代是否還知道這些習俗。那麼你呢？你家的除夕習俗跟香港的又有什麼差別？

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！