BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE festive three-day weekend gave families and friends more time to spend together, and usher in the Lunar New Year, said members of the Chinese community in the Sultanate.

Joana Lim, 24, said the festive season was best time of the year to catch up with her family and relatives.

“Chinese New Year gives families that one chance of getting together to strengthen their bonds and catch up on what’s been going,” she said.

“None of us are getting any younger and spending time together is always nostalgic, bringing back memories from our childhood,” added Lim.

The second day of the Lunar New Year, said Lim, is usually celebrated by inviting family and friends over for feasts, and giving thanks to ancestors and Gods.

Lim’s cousin who prefers to be known as Jes said she mostly spent her times celebrating the Lunar New Year in Malaysia with her grandmother.

“We don’t get to see her much since she is in another country, so we try to go and visit her during Chinese New Year,” she said.

Jes adds, this year, her Chinese New Year celebration, included visiting the temple in Bandar to pray for protection, health and luck for her families and friend.

“It is not every day that all of the family and relatives can get together for meals,” she said.

“This is because Chinese New Year is the only time we have family reunions,” she added.

Michelle Two, 23, currently studying at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, also celebrated the Lunar New Year here and said the three-day weekend placement was awesome.

“Normally, we would only have a day or two for the holidays, but three days gives us more time to celebrate,” she said.

”We get the chance to visit a few of our relatives’ homes on the first day, and celebrated with friends during our own open house,” she added.

“I would say this special celebration helps every family, including mine, rekindle bonds,” she noted.

Meanwhile, Shenna Wong, a teacher, celebrated the auspicious occasion with her family in Kota Kinabalu, where she visited one of the temples where the urns of her late grandparents are kept.

“I do like the three-day weekend very much [which make] the Chinese New Year holidays slightly longer so we get to pay our respects to [our late] grandparents as we are usually unable to go in April, which is the time in Chinese culture for grave clearing and such,” she said.

She added she would usually pray for general wealth, and as she ages, more health.

Her favourite parts of the holiday are the times spent chatting and eating together.

The Brunei Times