15/02/2026

ON SUNDAY February 15, 2026 II theSunday Special

#U VKOGU EJCPIG CPF PGY XKDGU GOGTIG VQIGVJGTPGUU EQPVKPWGU VQ FGƓPG VJG festival Chinese New Year through generational lens BY AQILAH NAJWA JAMALUDDIN

Loud, crowded and complete For millennials, the festival belongs to an era where togetherness was assumed rather than scheduled. This is where family homes stretched to accommodate whoever showed up. Hannah Teh, who is a social media team lead at one of Malaysia’s proptech companies, belongs to this generation. Born in 1993 and raised in Ipoh, Teh grew up in a house that seemed to expand every Chinese New Year celebration. Her immediate family already numbered nine siblings, yet relatives would still DUULYH ZLWK WKHLU RZQ IDPLOLHV ¿OOLQJ WKH space with children, noise and constant movement. T KHUH DUH PHPRULHV RI WUḊ F MDPV RQ the PLUS highway, cousins squeezed onto the same sofa while Astro’s festive ads played on repeat, entire neighbourhoods seeming to breathe in unison. Homes smelled of cleaning detergent and home cooked dishes and red lanterns went up without much thought. According to Teh, the house was loud, crowded and lively. “The most memorable part isn’t about WKH VSHFL¿F WUDGLWLRQ RU FXOWXUH IRU WKH Chinese. It was more towards bonding time with family and relatives,” she said. For the older generation, maintaining close family bonds has always been es sential and rituals were simply the means through which those connections were passed down. What Teh holds onto now is not a particular ritual but a feeling that feels increasingly rare. “That craziness and loudness is some thing I couldn’t find anymore now in adulthood. Not all family members will go back to the kampung and celebrate Chi QHVH 1HZ

C HINESE New Year is one of the most enduring cultural markers in Malaysia, shaping not only family life but the na tional rhythm itself. Its arrival, determined by the lunar calendar, brings a brief collective pause as routines are suspended and obligations reorganised around reunion and return. For a few days each year, homes become fuller, voices louder and routines paused. Yet how the festival is remembered, ex perienced and carried forward depends deeply on when you grew up. T HQ RU ¿IWHHQ \HDUV DJR &KLQHVH 1HZ Year moved more slowly and existed al PRVW HQWLUHO\ R̈ LQH 7KHUH ZHUH QR VWRULHV shared in real time or videos capturing reunion dinners from above. Younger generations experience the festival differently now. Growing up in a more urban, mobile and digitally connected Malaysia, many see Chinese New Year celebrations less as a fixed tradition and more as something negoti ated between work schedules, blended identities and changing ideas of family. The festival continues, but its meaning shifts depending on when and how you JUHZ XS

Teh and her family during the Chinese New Year celebration.