Saturday was the Chinese New Year, according to the lunar calendar, so Happy Year of the Dragon to everyone! One of the best parts, aside from the food, the fun, and the family get-togethers of Chinese New Year is the cold, hard, cash. Traditionally, parents, or elders, would give red envelopes stuffed with money to their kids for the New Year. Thanks to some relatives who were visiting this year, we received a little bit extra in our red envelopes. So with the $400 (woo!) we got, we promptly increased our Galapagos Fund to $10,400.
By the way, the title of this post is a cute play on the New Year’s greeting in Chinese: “Gong Xi Fa Cai” means “Wishing you a prosperous New Year”, and “Hong Bao Na Lai” means “Red envelope, please!” The two sounds would rhyme in Mandarin. It’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek response. 
I know that many Asian countries (Vietnam, Korea, and Japan come to mind) have money-giving traditions during the Lunar New Year. I’m wondering if there are any other holidays where a giving of money takes place. Share in the comments – I’d be really interested to know!
image source: 123newyear.com
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I'm half Korean (half Danish also) and we don't celebrate in my family. Wish we did!
I'm from Indonesia but my heritage is Chinese. I love Chinese New Year for the same reasons you mentioned, it's a time for family, food, fun, traditions and of course the red pockets!!
I don't know of any other holiday where people give money, maybe Christmas??