Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. The Water group children discussed some of the customs and traditions that chinese people still do and don't do for this special holiday. Most people cleanse their houses before the new year to sweep away any ill-fortune and make way for good incoming luck. Many will decorate their windows and doors with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune", "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". The most exciting thing for the children is receiving money in red envelopes (hon bao). One thing that many people in the city do not do much of anymore is lighting firecrackers at midnight. 
In connection with our Barkerville project, the children made red envelopes and put gold pieces in their "hon bao" because long ago chinese people use gold nuggets as their currency. Furthermore, one of the dishes that many Chinese people eat during the new year is dumpling because it resembles a gold nugget. Then the Water group cooked some dumplings to shared with the other groups, hoping the dumplings will bring them good fortunes and wealth. 
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