Members of the Chinese community perform a traditional dragon dance along the streets of Binondo, Manila, on the eve of Chinese New Year last Saturday. (Photo by KJ ROSALES)

Sunday’s twin celebration of the Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day offers an extra layer of excitement and an added spontaneous wave of euphoria among millions of merrymakers and lovers ready to pop the question on the onset of the 15-day Lunar Festival looking forward to a future of bliss, greater wealth, and good health in the Chinese New Year of the Metal Tiger and beyond.

Despite the global economic crunch, the confluence of two propitious events in one single day is expected to elevate consumer spending not only on a wide range of lucky charms and expensive prosperity food for the Chinese New Year, but on engagement rings and other jewelry items for Valentine’s Day.

Not to be forgotten are the expensive long stemmed roses and greeting cards to be delivered to the doorsteps of loved ones around the world. Valentine’s Day is the second largest card sending holiday of the year, next to Christmas, according to the US Greeting Card Association.

This Sunday, both Chinese New Year revelers and lovers are presumed to throw precaution to the winds insofar as consumer spending is concerned, having prepared their state of mind not to lower their expectation cap to splurge the money they have locked away to spend for family and loved ones in anticipation of Sunday’s double celebration.

In keeping with tradition, going back to their roots by visiting elders left in their homelands is a priority among millions of Chinese families during the 15-day Lunar Festival, especially beginning on Chinese New Year’s Day, accounting for the millions of dollars being spent on travel at this time of the year.

Hence, because of today’s dual celebration, attractive promotional and discounted airline and hotel fares, pushing back consumer price index to affordable levels, are likewise expected to surpass last year’s revenues and travel spending estimated at US$ 28.6 billions, according to the Ibis World Inc., a global research firm. Airline tickets rank among the most popular Valentine’s gift for couples, married or otherwise.

On Saturday night, being the eve of the Chinese New Year, the big bang from giant firecrackers resonated across China and its territories while thousands of dragon dancers swayed to the thumping of drums to ward off the evil spirits of the old year of the Ox, and to welcome the arrival of the Chinese New Year of the Metal Tiger.

Red scrolls with the inverted character “fu” in gold, which, when translated to English means “luck arrives,” continue to drape the living rooms of ancestral homes calling for good luck and prosperity which should not be removed for the duration of the Lunar festival.

Around the world last Saturday, a sea of people poured into the main streets of Chinatowns in a mixture of joy and expectation exploding large-scale firecrackers to welcome the good fortunes of the Chinese New Year.

The annual holiday is the most important of the year in China, with families expected to welcome the New Year at midnight Saturday with a roar of fireworks that will last for hours.

It is the only time in the year when China's massive army of migrant workers, who work on building sites and in factories in major cities, get a chance to return home to see their families.

China calls the holiday the biggest annual movement of people in the world. The Ministry of Railways has estimated that 210 million passengers – more than Russia's population – will ride the rails during the 40-day New Year travel season, up 10 percent from last year. The holiday officially lasts six days, but many workers take up to a month off.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned his people to keep a “sober mind” about the challenges ahead in the New Year as the country readied to welcome the arrival of the Year of the Tiger with noisy celebrations on Saturday.

“In 2010, China will face a more complicated situation, both at home and abroad,” state news agency Xinhua paraphrased Wen as saying, in remarks carried in major newspapers.

People must “keep a sober mind and an enhanced sense of anxiety about lagging behind,” the premier added.

Priority should be given to “persistence in taking economic development as the central task, forcefully promoting reform and opening up ... and doing a better job responding to the global financial crisis, in order to keep steady and relatively fast economic development.”

China raised the level of reserves banks must hold for the second time this year on Friday, spooking financial markets on the eve of its New Year holiday by showing it was intent to curb lending and inflation.

China powered to 8.7 percent growth last year, by far the strongest of any major economy, driving demand for everything from Chilean copper to Australian iron ore.

Saturday night’s rousing Chinese New Year’s Eve celebration was marked with great feasting amid family tables full of rich prosperity food, mountains of mandarin oranges and dragon fruits, drinks, and boxes of “tikoy,” leaving behind a plethora of left-over food to ensure abundance in the year ahead while children fell in line waiting for the distribution of the “ang pao” red envelopes filled with money in even numbers from elders.

Days leading to the Chinese New Year’s Eve celebration, food had been prepared in great quantity to guarantee big amounts of leftovers as a symbol of great wealth being brought over to the New Year from last year.

There is a Chinese adage implying that by beginning well on the first day of the Chinese New Year, everything one does throughout the year will be crowned with success.

This Sunday, Chinese tradition dictates that families continue holding reunion “tuan nian” feasts to further enhance family unity with a dish of a huge fish of fortune “yu sheng” as the centerpiece while greeting each other “Gong Xi Fa Cai” which in English means “Congratulations. May your wealth increase.”

In Chinese legend, fish is said to generate money because the Chinese word for fish is “yu” which has a similar pronunciation as the word “excess,” while “sheng” means “life.” So having “yu sheng” today is believed to engender a long and abundant life for the family.

At the same time, in China, family reunion “tuan nian” is an expression of the love and respect binding families closer together which makes it all the more important to hold greater feasting the whole day today.

A roaring welcome for the Chinese New Year is believed to call on the god of prosperity to bring in good luck to the homes of families without tipping over, because in China it is believed “that to be full without overflowing is the way to keep riches.” (With reports from AP and Reuters)