Gifting Money – My Personal Experience

This is the first in a series of articles that explores the cultural aspect of money that goes beyond its function as a means of payment or store of value. Many societies have a long-standing tradition of gifting money (banknotes and coins) to mark auspicious occasions – births and birthdays, weddings and other special events, where the value of the gift is as much social as it is financial.

We start the New Year, appropriately, with a personal view of the tradition of gifting money to celebrate Chinese New Year, and its origins.

Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. This year, it will fall on Saturday, 10 February, and the Year of the Wood Dragon will start. The Dragon symbolises power, nobility, luck and success in traditional Chinese culture and will bring growth to everyone.