Red Envelope Day

Today sees the beginning of the Chinese New Year and festivities will continue for up to 15 days. This year is the year of the Tiger and the associated element is Yang Metal.

It is a tradition for red envelopes to be passed out during the Chinese New Year celebrations, from marrieds and older people to children and single youngsters. The envelopes almost always contain money. The amount should be an even number. Odd number amount are handed out at funerals. (Odd and even numbers are determined by the first digit, rather than the last. Thus 30, 50, etc are odd numbers). The number eight is considered lucky.