This picture shows the rabbit for the year of the rabbit. Other symbols on the table are oranges, which are presented to employees or suppliers, not eaten but passed on to somebody else. Notice the pineapple. The gold covered coins.
The red packets in which you are supposed to place gifts of money for children and young, single, unmarried children. Inside you put the gift of money. You get crisp, clean new bank notes from a bank. The money should be in lucky numbers such as multiples of eights, such as eight, or eighty-eight. Avoid four and multiples of four because the sound for four sounds similar to the word for death in Chinese (Mandarin).
The red packets you see contain the money. The gold foil covers chocolate coins. The rabbit toy is in two sizes for babies, or bigger children.
Czech White (albino) rabbit.
The lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival and as Chinese New Year, in China and countries with large Chinese populations, such as Singapore.
In Vietnam instead of the rabbit, the animal of the year is the cat. This is because their important crop is rice, and the numbers of rats which eat the rice are reduced by the cats.
The solstice is about the sun, in December, and the equinox is when the days and nights are of equal lengths.
The lunar new year is not about the sun but about the moon.
Rabbits
I had a soft toy rabbit which I kept on my desk in case I had an opportunity to speak about it during Chinese New Year.
On Saturday 28th January I was in a zoom meeting of a Toastmasters Group for training speakers, Braddell Heights 2. I had been invited to be the Language Evaluator. The table topics (impromptu speeches of 1-2 minutes) were on the theme of Chinese New Year. The table topics master had pictures of the CNY themes.
I started, "I love Chinese New Year!"
I held up my puppet.
I thought that I might have inspired everybody else to jump up from their desks, unmute and turn off their picture, whilst they rushed to grab another item connected with CNY. Such as an ang pow (red packet with a gift of money, ideally a multiple of eight, such as 8 or 80 dollars. 9Never the number four which sounds like death.).
No. I was the only one with a CNY prop.
Angela with soft toy white rabbit, used as a prop for speeches.
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Well, what do you know! A real rabbit really does have pink ears. (And pink edged eyes.) You learn something every day.
Summary of Symbols
Rabbit - for the Chinese zodiac sign for year of the rabbit
Gold paper covered coins and bars
Mandarin oranges (a pair)
The God of wealth (a person dressed up)
A lion (and a lion dance performed with noise to scare away evil)
Red packets containing money in new notes, adding up to eight which is a lucky number, not four symbolising death
Spring flower blossoms, red, orange, pink and white
Glossary
CNY - Chinese New Year (abbreviated to the initials)
Solstice - summer
Solstice - winter
lunar New Year
Spring Festival
If you missed the CNY/lunar celebrations, the Tibetan New Year takes place one month later.
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