I've never seen the point of either practice: the ang pow (money in quaint little red packets) and the duit raya (money in quaint little green packets). The former is given out by the married members of the family to their unmarried relatives (regardless of age) while the latter is given out by any member of the family who is working to the "young ones".
The Chinese ang pow
I'm not married, so i have yet been expected to give out the ang pow. But some pressure was placed on me to give out duit raya this past Hari Raya. I resisted. I believe in charity, and i regularly empty my pockets of loose change whenever i walk past a person in need asking for help. But giving out money during celebrations? Who started this practice? Why do we, as a society, believe that its necessary? Do we do it because everyone else does? Its "just one of those things"?
So i gave out nothing. My younger cousins gave me dagger stares.
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