Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

In our family, children love red envelopes. They signify special occasions, usually a party, and gifts of money. We have just celebrated the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Horse, with the consumption of amazing amounts of delicious food, mah jong challenges for all ages, and with the giving of red envelopes - lai see ( in Cantonese) and hong bao ( in Mandarin) which contained "lucky" money. Tradition suggests that on auspicious occasions like the lunar new year  and weddings, money in the red envelopes  means blessings and  good luck bestowed on the young by the older generation (the unmarried by the married)  and on the bride and groom by the guests. Some employees are also lucky enough to receive red envelopes from their bosses. It is also a happy custom to give red envelopes of money for special services given like Chinese lion dancers in a new year's performance. Always red, the colour of good luck, the lai see (hong bao) are often ...

Christmas Countdown ...7... Pudding Coins  We all love Christmas pudding, but have you ever wondered where the practice of putting coins in the pudding came from? Getting a silver coin with your serving of pudding is said to bring good luck. This came possibly from the 1300s in Britain when a “Twelfth Night Cake” was eaten during the festivities on the twelfth night of Christmas. A dried bean or pea was baked inside the cake and whoever got it was “king” or “queen” for the night. The bean was sometimes a silver ring. Then it turned into a farthing or a penny and then after World War 1, a silver threepence or sixpence.  There was also a practice of using tokens in a pudding, which held predictions for the finder – a bachelor or spinster for the following year, or the prospect of marriage. These days, silver coins are no longer currency, but many (like me) have kept a few silver coins just to put in the pudding on Christmas Day.