The Story Behind Chinese New Year

In the West, we call it Chinese New Year, but in Asian countries which celebrate the occasion it's called the Lunar New Year. GIGABYTE Notebooks USA is proud of our Taiwanese roots and have asked our

colleagues from Taiwan to tell us their favorite things about this annual festival.

The Red Envelopes are called Hongbao in Mandarin

Hands down everyone we talked to brought up the red envelopes called Hongbao or Lucky Money Envelopes. You probably have seen them in restaurants or if you have friends or family who celebrate.

The story behind the red envelopes is actually the story of the origin of the Lunar New Year festival. Legend has it that a monster named Sui would appear on the eve of Lunar New Year to cause children to fall sick. So desperate parents threaded 8 coins together as a way to protect their children from this creature. The red envelopes are a traditional gift which symbolize "lucky money".

Lunar New Year is more than just a time to get lucky money. It's a time to spend quality time with family, take time to meditate and pray to begin the year in a prosperous healthy way. Each of the 15 days has a tradition, like on the Lunar New Year's Day you need to not pick up or clean, and hope you don't break anything! Other days are reserved for visiting friends and neighbors, there's a special day for married folk to visit their family, a day of prayers for prosperity and health, and other days are set aside for opening business. Technically the Lunar New Year festivities last for 15 days ending with the Lantern Festival.

The Lunar year is symbolized by an animal and element. There are 12 animals in the "Chinese Zodiac" and 5 Elements - Each animal and element combination represents certain qualities. This year is the Year of the Rat (in English) but our Taiwanese colleagues said Year of the Mouse... Which is way cuter. This year we're celebrating the Year of the Metal Mouse starting on January 24th.

Be sure to sign up for our email list to find out how to win Hongbao to celebrate the Lunar New Year!