The Chinese New Year in Thailand
Chinese New Year has been a fact since February 8, 2016: the year of the "monkey". It is the most important family celebration of the year for the Chinese. The festival is celebrated with many colorful parades and large street parties.
On the last evening of the old year (New Year's Eve) the whole family comes together for an extensive family dinner. The children are given small red envelopes with money. Due to the often large families, the festivities can sometimes be expensive. The house should be thoroughly cleaned and decorated before the start of the party. At midnight the fireworks will follow, which should be especially loud and noisy. Yet it is mainly celebrated within the family circle or family trips are organized to friends.
The Chinese New Year festival begins exactly on the first day of the second new moon after the winter solstice. New Year falls on the third new moon when there is an eleventh or twelfth month before the new year. The first day is the preparation party, the second day is the family party and the third day is the New Year's party. The Chinese New Year period ends with the Lantern Festival, on the fifteenth day of the new year.
The monkey, the symbol of this new year, replaces the goat and will be replaced by the rooster again in 12 months. Then in a fixed order come dog, pig, rat, buffalo, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, goat and after a period of 12 years it is the turn of the snake again. These life-sized animals are arranged in a circle in Baan Sukhawadee, the large colorful palatial building on Sukhumvit Road, past Pattaya Bangkok Hospital.
Great significance is attached to this animal cycle in China. They stand for the descriptions of people's characters, their features, talents and preferences, but also recognize mistakes and weaknesses. The sign of the monkey stands for: resourcefulness, decisiveness, curiosity, self-awareness, social awareness and motivation.
In Pattaya, the festivities could be followed in various places, such as at the King Taksin memorial at the Cityhall in North Pattaya and at the memorial of Prince Krom Luang Chumphon at the viewpoint of Pratamnak hill. And in a number of places the lion and dragon dance parade.
If you are in Pattaya, you don't have to look for such a lion and dragon, they go all over the city and especially the bear bars. I don't know much about the deeper meaning of the ritual, but everyone queues to hand in money in return for which they receive a mostly gold-colored frig which I assume should be cherished as a relic. It's bound to be good for something, maybe even your karma, because pretty much all bargirls pull out the wallet and then go into a swoon of bliss.
For those interested: Video of the delay at a few bars in Soi 7 last year.
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https://youtu.be/qdYirAcWwJk