Chinese New Year is a big festival known as ”The Spring Festival” that’s mostly celebrated by Chinese communities in Brunei. This festival commenced during mid-January or latest mid-February. And the public holiday is always set on the first day of the first lunar month based on Chinese calendar.
In Brunei, Chinese people usually takes a day off on Chinese New year’s Eve because that’s when it is time for them to go back to their hometown; in order to have reunion with their closest families. Those family that celebrate Chinese New Year here will either start going to countless open houses or even having one of their very own on the very first day or throughout this festival. However, there are some exceptions, like for those families who had just lost one of their family members, wouldn’t be able to celebrate the festival on that same year.
During this celebration, it is expected to see Chinese people wearing Chinese attire known as ”Cheong sum” and some exciting performances such as the lion dance. Performances like lion dance attracts people’s attention, and, it is worth to mention that it dances its way into the host’s house to bring good luck and to get rid of all the negative energy in the person’s home. This dance usually starts off with firecrackers and it is meant to welcome the coming of the ”Wealth God”. Thus, people hope to get a promotion or more money in the coming year.
Furthermore, when going to open houses of your very own close relatives, the food placed on the table is almost one hundred percent Chinese home-cooked food. Some Chinese dishes that look very simple could actually use 5-6 hours to cook or even a day. For example, ”The Chinese 8 Treasure duck” or ”Hakka Kau Yuk”. Truth to be told, these type of dishes that is only available on Chinese New Year is a sign of ”reunion”. The longer the person cooks, the longer you stay at home with family waiting and eat together as a whole.
In conclusion, the celebrations for Spring Festival are known to be a time to gather with family and is therefore very meaningful.
The Equinox 