Chinese New Year ain't over yet..!

Chinese New Year is still going on! The Asian celebration runs two weeks long. Don't you think all holidays should run two weeks ;-)

As some of you know, Lottay released our "Celebrate Chinese New Year!" application on Facebook in honor of the holiday.

Here's a nice blurb about our Facebook app.

You can also send virtual red envelopes on Lottay.com.

Lottay's "virtual Red Envelope" for Chinese new year gifts

The second-largest Chinese newspaper in the U.S. did a nice article about Lottay's "virtual red envelope" for Chinese new year.

See the article here in Sing Tao Daily.

Lottay.com is about sending cash as gift, securely via PayPal. Chinese new year is often marked by giving cash as a gift, inside a red envelope. So we combined the two (Chinese new year started on Feb. 14 and runs for two weeks).

Happy Chinese New Year from Lottay!

Gong xi fa cai! That's "Happy New Year" in Mandarin. February 14 was the start of the Chinese new year, a two week-long celebration of culture, tradition, food and family.

Lottay wants to help you celebrate the Chinese new year ... with our new Facebook application!

Check out Lottay's "Celebrate Chinese New Year" app here.

You can get your Chinese zodiac animal sign, your horoscope for the new year, and send good fortune to your Facebook friends.

That well wish can even include money via PayPal. Traditionally during Chinese new year, people give money gifts inside red envelopes. We're helping you do that electronically.

Not on Facebook (or just don't like Facebook)? You can also send an electronic red envelope on Lottay.com here.

Happy Year of the Tiger!

Chinese New Year starts on February 14, 2010

We're two weeks away from scaring off bad spirits and wishing for a fruitful harvest. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, I speak of Lunar New Year, often just called Chinese New Year.

The Chinese New Year follows the ancient lunar calendar and was originally tied to harvest times in an agrarian society. As with many things Chinese (my parents are Chinese, so I can talk this way), tradition and custom and symbolism all got intertwined, so much so that many people who celebrate the Lunar New Year have no idea what it's really about.

For many contemporary Chinese and people of Chinese extract, the Lunar New Year is a time to wish people well. This wishing often takes the very tangible form of giving people money as a gift. Specifically, older people give younger people money in red envelopes (red packets, known in Mandarin as "hong bao"). The red envelope is packed with symbolism in Chinese culture. Well, actually it's packed with cash, but you get it.

Lottay.com is a web site for making the giving of money as a gift fun, personal, and secure. So we thought, Let's offer a Chinese New Year version of Lottay!

Gong xi fa cai! Gong hay fat choy!