Chinese new year celebrated in Pattaya on the 26th of this month

Thailand  residents  are  lucky because they like to party and there are three New Years celebrated  in Thailand: Christian, Chinese and Thai.

The  Pattaya  Countdown  to  2009 was  one  of  the most  exciting New Year’s parties yet.

Thailand  has  an  elite  community of  families  of  Chinese  ancestry. Bangkok and Pattaya offer wonderful celebrations to commemorate the Chinese New Year - (the biggest celebration in Asia).

Chinese  New  Year  is  celebrated by Chinese communities throughout the world. It’s traditionally a time for family, friends and loved ones to see one another, exchange gifts and share a big, extravagant meal. The Chinese New Year celebrations in Pattaya begin on  the weekend of  the 24th and 25th climaxing on Monday, the 26th.  Pattaya will host events  including a public  parade with  lion  and  dragon dances,  fireworks  and  firecrackers, a Miss  Pattaya  beauty  pageant  and cultural and historical displays.

Food  plays  a  big  part  too,  and Beach Road will be lined with stalls selling  specialty  foods  and  drinks. The  Chinese  New  Year  also  celebrates the imminent arrival of spring and this is the time for a new start, so it is traditional to settle old debts and set children off to a good start for the year,  with  gifts  of money  given  in small red envelopes.

For  those  foreigners  who  would like  to  really  show  cultural  sensitivity and also want  to please  some Thai people who have been nice  to them  in  the past year,  they can buy some traditional deep red envelopes and show their gratitude in the form of  Thai  Baht,  in  the  envelope  for each  Thai  they  want  to  please.   A small  amount  is  okay  for  someone not known well and a five hundred, thousand  or  two  thousand  baht  gift is suggested for someone on staff or held closely.

New Year’s Eve  of  the  25th,  and New  Year’s  Day  on  the  26th,  are especially  celebrated  as  a  domestic ,affair, and are  times of  reunion and thanksgiving for the family. The celebration was  traditionally highlighted with  a  religious  ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth,  the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most crucial of all the rituals according  to Chinese  traditions, unites  the living members with those who have died. Departed  relatives are accorded  great  respect  because  they were responsible  for  laying  the  foundations for the future fortune and glory of the family.

 The  presence  of  the  ancestors  is acknowledged  on  New  Year’s  Eve with  a  dinner  arranged  for  them  at the  family banquet  table. The Montien Pattaya Resort offers a fabulous Chinese  dining  service  as  do many of  the  other  leading  hotels  in  Pattaya.  It  is best  to make  reservations as soon as possible.

The  spirits  of  the  ancestors,  together with  the  living, celebrate  the onset of  the New Year as one great community. The  communal  feast  is called  “Surrounding  the  Stove”  or Weilu.  It  symbolizes  family  unity and  honors  the  past  and  present generations.

The Chinese New Year that is celebrated for about fifteen days and is one  moment  in  the  year  when  the whole nation of China and  those of Chinese  ancestry  in  Thailand  and around the world feel united as they can imagine each other’s enjoyment.

The Chinese New Year gets determined by the Chinese New Year calendar  and  therefore  it  is  sometimes called the Lunar New Year. In 2009, the  Chinese  Lunar  Year  Festival will start from 24th of January with the New Year’s Eve on Sunday,  the 25th.

As every one is aware of its significance, the working people in China can  take weeks  of  holidays  so  that they  can  join  the  company  of  their near  and  dear  ones  and  feast  with their  family  members  on  the  Chinese New Year’s Eve or Lunar New Year’s Eve.

Although with the changing times and increasing mobility of the people the celebration of Chinese New Year Festival has undergone some changes, everybody still very fervently follow all  the customs  that  their elders have taught them.

The third New Year is the Thai one, officially from the 12th – 15th April ,and actually all the third week there will  be water  throwing,  beer  drinking, water  pouring  in  respect  of  elders, and powder patting to celebrate the Songkran Festival with  the Pattaya  Flowering  Festival  (Wan  Lai), to bring in the Thai New Year.