Chinese otoshidama.

Edit: Used Wade-Giles to maintain consistency with Tanyang.

Also...

Sin-nî khòai-lo̍k, kiong-hí hoat-châi, âng-pau ná lâi!

NNescio said:

Sin-nî khòai-lo̍k, kiong-hí hoat-châi, âng-pau ná lâi!

I'm not married yet so no ang pao for you!!

Also,
"even numbers are seen as lucky"
*Looks at the ones with 5$ inside*
Well, guess some traditions were lost.

NNescio said:

Chinese otoshidama.

Edit: Used Wade-Giles to maintain consistency with Tanyang.

Also...

Sin-nî khòai-lo̍k, kiong-hí hoat-châi, âng-pau ná lâi!

Which province was that from? I remember those near my house was screaming something like Chin Ngien Khuai Le, Khiong Hi Fat Chai, Ang Pau Na Lai.

Rathurue said:

Which province was that from? I remember those near my house was screaming something like Chin Ngien Khuai Le, Khiong Hi Fat Chai, Ang Pau Na Lai.

Min Nan (Hokkien to be exact). Also happens to be the most common dialect used in Taiwan, 'though they use a different romanization scheme.

You're probably hearing "Xin nian kuai le, gong xi fa cai, ang pau na lai", which is mostly mandarin except for ang pau which is in Hokkien. Or, in Wade-Giles for the Mandarin part, "Hsin nien k'uai le, kong hsi fa ts'ai, ang pau na lai", which is pronounced exactly the same (it's a different method of transcribing the same sounds), but correct pronunciation is more intuitive in Wade-Giles for non-Chinese speakers.

Alternatively you could be listening to Hakka (which explains the 'ng's and 'kh's), in which case it would be "Sîn-ngièn khoai-lo̍k, kiûng-hí fat-chhòi, fùng-pâu nâ lôi."

laisy said:

I'm not married yet so no ang pao for you!!

Also,
"even numbers are seen as lucky"
*Looks at the ones with 5$ inside*
Well, guess some traditions were lost.

That might explain why the one I remember getting had a $2 dollar bill inside.