Chinese New Year
What is Chinese New Year...
Chinese New Year is a celebration of the New Year according to the traditional Chinese calendar - a lunisolar calendar that incorporates the phases of the moon as well as Earth's position around the sun. This Spring Festival is celebrated with lots of food, the color red, and honoring ancestors.
Traditionally, the celebrations are a time to honor various deities, remember your ancestors and be close to you family. With such a huge quantity of people celebrating, there are now a wide variety of customs and traditions, with many of these being regional.
A major holiday in Greater China, the occasion is also known as the Spring Festival, celebrated by 20% of the Earth's population! More fireworks are used on this day than any other. Celebrations include wonderfully decorative dragons, paper lanterns and the sharing of red envelopes. Families will often clean their houses to sweep away ill fortune and make room for good luck. They will also come together for a feast with dumplings, long noodles, oranges and all sorts of other wonderful dishes.
When Is Chinese New Year...
...and How Did It Start
Chinese New Year is a 15 day celebration starting on the day of the new moon that occurs between 21st January and 20th February. Some celebrations include the eve before this, turning it to a 16 day celebration. Further-more, some families will begin the festivities with the Laba Festival, creating a 40 day festive period!
Tales say the Jade Emperor held a race between many animals to enter the heavenly gate. As with all ancient stories, there are many variations told of why and how this occurred. One thing remains consistent throughout, the order in which the animals arrived: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. The actual year of the race is disputed and so is the date when the celebrations began.
The rat used its cunning ways to win the race and had already ensured one animal would not be successful. The cat and the rat were close neighbors, but the rat was tired of the cat's bullying ways. When the race was announced the rat took an opportunity to scupper the cat's chances. As the cat was a sleepy animal, it had asked the rat to wake it on the day of the race. Instead, the rat snuck away quietly leaving the cat asleep and so, the cat slept through the entire race.
Who Celebrates Chinese New Year...
The majority of people that celebrate are of Chinese origin or Sinophone communities. Many other people enjoy the bright and colourful celebrations too, so the tradition is openly celebrated by a wide variety of people from all walks of life.
The celebration of Chinese New Year is a huge event in China and Hong Kong. Many Sinophone communities are present in other areas of Asia, Thailand and Singapore are among the top locations to visit for a thrilling celebration. With a huge presence across the globe, celebrations can also be found in Australia, France, USA, London, Canada and many more.
A tradition closely followed on this day is getting together with the family to have a feast. Certain foods are symbolic and are commonplace during the Chinese New Year. Dumplings represent wealth, so they are eaten in abundance, with fish being another food that is eaten a lot. Red is generally considered a lucky color in China and during the Chinese New Year, it is seen everywhere - representing vitality, beauty, luck, happiness, and good fortune.
Things To Remember...
Remember your ancestors, celebrate your family:
Amid all the celebrations it must be remember that the holiday is for the whole family. Take time to celebrate and enjoy the company of those nearest and dearest to you.
Eat and be merry, enjoy the festivities:
Enjoy dim sum! A huge variety of delights await people at Chinese New Year. Enjoy the fireworks, parades, and general merriment. Chinese New Year is about creating good fortune for the year to come. Take time to enjoy yourself and others around you.
Share the traditional red envelopes:
Red symbolizes good luck and prosperity and is helpful in warding off evil spirits and negativity. Monetary gifts are often given in the attempt to bring the recipient good fortune. The gifted amount should be an even value and not contain the number 4. Over 8 billion red envelopes are passed around families throughout the celebration every year.
History Of The Holiday...
Origin Early in Shang Dynasty (17th c. BC - 1046 BC)
Ancient people concluded the cycles of seasons from their planting experience, and the yearly celebration came about with the creation of the calendar in the Shang Dynasty. The earliest worshiping activities became the birth of the festival. People attributed their food, clothes and harvest to the god and ancestor's will, so ceremonies were held to pray for blessings and peace at the end of each year.
Use of 'Year' in Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 256 BC)
The name of 'Year', 'Nian' in Chinese, emerged in the Zhou Dynasty. Ancient worship activities turned into social practice to observe the beginning of farming work in spring. Not only worshiping the ancestors and praying for a good harvest, people also began to enshrine many other gods at the same time.
Date Fixed since Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD)
The festival date was decided by the Emperor Wudi, of Han Dynasty. It was set as the first month in Chinese lunar calendar, which was of great significance in Chinese New Year history. The date has been used for thousands of years till now. At that time, the festival had become a nationwide event. There was a big carnival launched by the government, and civil servants gathered for celebrations. New activities took place such as staying through the night, burning bamboo; which is just like setting off fireworks nowadays, as well as hanging peach boards; which later became the Spring Festival couplets.
Celebration Style from Wei & Jin to Qing Dynasty (220 - 1911 AD)
The celebrations remained a grand fair for the government and common people continued to use the cracking sound of burning bamboo to subdue the evil spirits. Staying up was a tradition that was also widely kept, and people would dress up smart to kneel down to senior family members. The words Yuandan and Xinnian were created to mark the turn between two years.
In the flourishing Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD), the function of Chinese New Year had shifted from worshiping and praying to social entertainment. Public holidays were granted to allow people to stay with family members. At that time, it evolved into a festival for common people to share in the celebrations and rejoice. The invention of black powder in the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD) brought firecrackers into the celebration.