Chinese New Year Description
The most important festival in the Chinese calendar, celebrated over two public holidays in Singapore. Chinatown transforms weeks in advance with dazzling lantern displays, street bazaars selling festive goods and traditional snacks, and the iconic light-up ceremony. On the eve, families gather for the reunion dinner (tuan nian fan), the year's most important meal, featuring dishes symbolizing prosperity — fish (abundance), dumplings (wealth), and niangao (rising fortune). At midnight, the tradition of lo hei (tossing yusheng salad) fills homes and restaurants with joyful shouts of prosperity. On the first day, families visit elders to offer New Year greetings (bai nian) and exchange ang pow (red packets containing money). The two-day holiday sees Chinatown thronged with visitors enjoying lion and dragon dances, street performances, and the Chingay Parade — Singapore's multicultural version of a Chinese New Year procession. Government offices, banks, and most businesses close, while temples like Thian Hock Keng and Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple see immense crowds offering incense and prayers for a blessed year ahead.
