The Lunar New Year celebration starts next weekend with the family reunion dinner on Friday, 27 January, New Year’s Eve. It is not an official public holiday in Cambodia but because there are so many Cambodians of Chinese ancestry, it is a de facto holiday and everyone takes off from school and work. Preparations for the approaching festivities has been going on for more than a week but now they are picking up pace.
This is one of the shops that sells the lanterns and posters and other decorations connected with the new year celebration.This shop sells children’s outfits for the new year. The color for the new year is red, accented with gold indicating the hope for wealth.For the big kids this shop offers red dresses for the celebrations.This shop has prepared the ubiquitous fruit baskets that every faithful son or daughter must take when he or she visits the parents.This Chinese-medium school has put up its decorations early because the students will be gone during the actual week of celebrations.