The angpow packets designed in red and gold of a bank.
SIBU: A mad rush to banks for angpow packets and new bank notes has begun.
A bank officer said yesterday that new bank notes arrived a fortnight ago, while distribution of angpow packets started a week ago.
“Bank customers know this practice. Even without our notification, they would come at such a time for the red packets and to exchange new bank notes. But out of courtesy, we do paste notice on the wall to remind our customers about the note exchange and the giving out of the red packets.”
The officer said they had new notes for the RM10, RM50 and RM100 denominations. For the RM1 and RM5 denominations, they had the recycled notes without running numbers.
He said response was so overwhelming they were about to run out of the red packets and the new notes now.
“We give out the red packets to our customers and those coming to the bank for transactions. We are sharing the joy of the festival.”
The culture of angpow, also called Lai See in Cantonese and Hong Bao in Mandarin, originated in the Qin Dynasty as elders threaded coins with a red string to give to the children for luck and good health.
It is because of this cultural practice that money in the angpow is called “Ya Sui” money.
Ya means surprises, while Sui refers to age or demon.
One legend has it that a demon would terrorise a village at night. They would touch the heads of children, who would fall sick and die.
A worried couple in a village prayed for protection, and eight fairies were sent to them.
To trick the demon, the fairies disguised themselves as eight coins and hid under the child’s pillow.
As the demon approached to touch the child’s head, the coins glowed with bright lights and the frightened demon ran off.
The Ya Sui packets had evolved from the thread of coins to the red packets. It is a cultural practice that is 2,500 years old.