Mighty morphin' power angbaos
No one knows for certain the origins of angbao; and its practices vary depending on who you ask. And with the growing use of e-payments, the ubiquitous red paper packet may well turn digital
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"WHERE got such thing?!" my mum exclaimed at the dinner table, when my brother and I said that newlyweds didn't need to give angbaos.
This was a few months ago, when we were discussing our Chinese New Year plans. The Tays had expanded, you see - my elder brother and I each got married late last year - and we were trying to coordinate the yearly bolero of whose house to visit when.
Apparently, neither of my parents had ever heard of this new-fangled rule: that newly married couples get a one-year angbao holiday during their first Chinese New Year together. The thinking behind it is summed up simply as "give chance, lah" - couples have presumably just spent a boatload on their wedding, and need time to recoup their cash before distributing red packets.
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