(RNS) — The Chinese Lunar New Year, also called the Spring Festival, started more than 3,000 years ago as a harvest festival in the Chinese agrarian society that observed and celebrated the cycles of nature. Throughout millennia, the festival has grown to become the biggest annual celebration in Chinese communities throughout the world.

One of the places that has developed unique Chinese New Year traditions is Penang, in northern Malaysia, the center of Chinese culture in a country whose population is nearly one-quarter ethnic Chinese. Their forebears arrived as traders as early as the 15th century, and their traditions, though distinctive, maintain their connection with ancient customs.

New year celebrations are famously raucous street festivals, with firecrackers and richly decorated costumes, but for the Malaysian Chinese they are also private, family affairs, a time to clean the house, pay debts of all kinds and start fresh. Children return to their parents' homes and spend most of the 15 days of the Spring Festival together.

On the eve of the new year, families sit down for a reunion dinner, the centerpiece of which is yee sang, a dish traditionally made from thinly sliced fresh fish. (In Chinese, the word “fish” sounds similar to “abundance.”) In Malaysia, yee sang has evolved into a colorful mix of fish, carrot, radish and other vegetables with colors symbolizing prosperity and good luck.

Throughout the two weeks of the Spring Festival, the Malaysian Chinese observe a range of rituals and traditions meant to bring in good luck, prosperity and wealth.