Greeting During Festive Seasons

It’s been almost a month since my last post. Things have been crazily busy and satisfying as after a year, I got to make a trip back to my hometown, and spent 2 weeks there.

So between the last lesson and this one, there have been a few “important days” that we had celebrated, or at least me and people around me. That includes Chinese New Year, The last day of Chinese New Year known as “Cap Go Meh” for Chinese Indonesian , and yesterday is a very loving day, known as “Valentine Day”.

Even though it has passed, let me show you how we greet people during those few “festive” days.

1. Chinese New Year

“新年快乐”            xīnnián kuàile  Happy New Year

“春节快乐”                        chūnjié kuàile  Happy Spring Festival

“鸡年机箱”                        jīnián jíxiǎng   Prosperous “Rooster” Year

(Based on Lunar Calendar, 2017 is rooster year. Rooster is one of the Sign in Chinese Zodiac. So every baby born from 28 Jan 2017 (first day of Chinese New Year) will be the “rooster” baby. )

“年年有余”                        niánnián yǒuyú            Abundance year by year

(The last word 余 yú means surplus, it has the same pronunciation as the Chinese word for fish (鱼), this is one of the reason why, some Chinese still like to prepare fish on the dining table, to represent that abundance and  the idea of wealth that will “never-finish”!)

2. The Last Day of Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year lasts for 15 days. The 15^th day is normally known as “cap-go-meh” for the Chinese Indonesian. That is hokkien language for the 15^th night.

            “元宵节快乐”             yúanxiāojié kuàile                   Happy Cap Go Meh

3. Valentine’s Day

“情人节快乐”        qíngrénjié kuàile                                  Happy Valentine’s Day

Hope you will find the above useful next year.

In conveying our greetings to others, we just have to know what is the festive name in Chinese and add “” kuàile = happy after it.

For example:

Happy Galungan (for Balinese)                      加隆安节快乐            jiālóngānjié kuàile

Galungan                                加隆安            jiālóngān

Festive Season                        节                    jié

Here are a few others:

1. Happy Teacher’s Day             教师节快乐                 jiāoshījie kuàile
2. Happy Mother’s Day              母亲节快乐                 mǔqīnjié kuàile
3. Happy Father’s Day                父亲节快乐                fùqīnjié kuàile 
4. Happy Halloween                   万圣节快乐                wànshèngjié kuàile
5. Happy Mid Autumn Festival  中秋节快乐                 zhōngqiūjié kuàile
6. Happy Children’s Day            儿童节快乐                 értóngjié kuàile
7. Happy Single Day                   光棍节快乐                guānggùnjié kuāile                                               (celebrated in China on November 11, for those who are single)

8. Happy National Day               国庆节快乐               guóqìngjiékuàile
9. Happy Birthday                      生日快乐                    shēngrì kuàile
10. Happy Wedding Anniversary   结婚周年快乐         jiéhūn zhōunián kuàile