Lunar New Year

At Partners, we always make decisions on behalf of our Members and the community through a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) lens. DEIB is baked in from the beginning and part of our foundational core.

We’re excited to support Lunar New Year to kickstart our efforts in 2023.  Lunar New Year is the beginning of a calendar year whose months are moon cycles, based on the “lunisolar” calendar. A lunisolar calendar uses the insertion or addition of ‘leap’ days, weeks, or months into some years to bring them into agreement with the solar year and to follow the seasons.

2023 is the year of the Rabbit in Chinese astrology, and the Year of the Cat in the Vietnamese zodiac. The Sinosphere (from the Arabic “ṣīn” – relating to China, and the Greek “sphere” – globe) are not the only cultures that observe a Lunar New Year. The Hindu-Buddhist calendars of South and Southeast Asia, the Islamic calendar and the Jewish calendar in the Middle East are all based on the Moon’s cycle. Lunar New Year is also celebrated by the indigenous Nisga'a people of Canada.

In China, the envelopes are called “hóngbāo”; in Japan they are “Otoshidama”; in Vietnam, “Bao lì xì”; and in Korea, the envelope may be white or made of silk instead of red and it is called “Sebaedon.” The money inside symbolizes prosperity and is meant as a forecast for the new year.

During Lunar New Year celebrations in the East Asian cultural sphere, which can last for two weeks, elders give red envelopes containing money to children, often following a traditional greeting offered by the children.

In the traditional Asian household, family cultural values have been especially important for generations which is why saving money for celebrating holidays like Lunar New Year starts at a young age. Partners offers youth accounts to help children learn how to prepare for a bright financial future and how to save and spend smarter. These accounts have generous conditions, with no minimum balance required and no monthly maintenance fees. Like other Partners accounts, they are accessible when, where, and how they are needed, with ATM cards, online and mobile banking access, and automatic transfer availability.

And of course, Partners offers financial education tools & resources like workshops, webinars, education on-demand, and a fraud center to help keep young Members safe.

“Children across the United States may get money for their birthdays, holidays, allowance, and all kinds of occasions.” said Priscilla L., Vice President of Marketing at Partners “If they have a family member who is a Partners Member, we can help teach them how to save and spend that money for their financial future. Being able to do that in cooperation with the Compass BERG while highlighting the Lunar New Year is a perfect fit.”

To celebrate Lunar New Year, Partners is teaming up with the Compass Business Employee Resource Group (BERG) at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, to provide advocacy and education to build financial health and achieve their financial dreams and to offer commemorative Lunar New Year red envelopes at Cast event tables backstage and in our Anaheim branch locations.

“We landed on the idea of creating a Lunar New Year Red Envelope which will be cobranded as a Cast engagement opportunity to learn more about this cultural celebration.” Said Daniel W.t, California-based Manager, Member Education & Development at Partners “We’ve done similar events in years past, but this year we wanted to showcase this partnership and take the opportunity to create assets to share awareness of the cultural celebration.”

The Compass BERG is one of three BERGs across The Walt Disney Company dedicated to Asian American and Pacific Islander Cast Members and allies. “The Walt Disney Company’s Asian American/ Pacific Islander BERG champions the success of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders at The Walt Disney Company, shares and encourages deeper appreciation of Asian/Asian American cultures by all employees, and thus empowers all employees to uphold TWDC’s reputation as the gold standard for boundless creativity, impactful storytelling, and unforgettable experiences.” according to their site on The Hub.

The vision of the Compass BERG is to represent the Asian and Asian-Pacific Islander interest for the purpose of enhancing Cast, Guest and Community relations through cultural awareness and business practices.

In whatever way you celebrate the new year, make Partners your financial Partners for life.