Out with the old and in with the new
Print Edition
The Year of the Horse has arrived! Lanterns have been lit and people have prayed for a good year ahead.
During the Spring Festival, people put on new clothes, reunited with their families and exchanged gifts.
New Year’s Eve was definitely a memorable night with family members gathered round tables enjoying special reunion dinners. Let’s take a look around the district to see how people in Jiading celebrated the Spring Festival.
When lions dance
The lion dance is a special cultural event during the Chinese New Year period to create an atmosphere of good fortune and happiness. It originated from folk dances of the Han nationality. Some ethnic peoples such as the Zhuang, Miao and Manchu also have similar dances at festivals and celebrations. The lion is an auspicious animal in Chinese people’s minds, symbolizing good fortune. During this year's Spring Festival, wonderful lion dance performances on the lawn of Jiading's Guyi Garden impressed many visitors.
Making lanterns
Red lanterns symbolize a successful year in Chinese. Hanging lanterns in Spring Festival originated from ancient agricultural society.
In winter when most animals hibernated, some beasts, such as tigers, could not find food and ventured into villages, frightening the people there. Therefore, they started to hang red lanterns on doors to scare away beasts. As time went by, it became a Spring Festival tradition.
In Spring Festival, red lanterns were hung up on Nanxiang Old Street, attracting the admiration of passersby.
Spring Festival scrolls
According to tradition, people start to make sponge cakes, steam buns and hang Spring Festival scrolls from the 28th day of the 12th month of lunar calendar to express hopes for a good year ahead.
The Spring Festival scroll has a history dating back more than 1,000 years.
Since the Qin and Han dynasties of more than 2300 years ago, Chinese families started to hang peach wood charms on both sides of the door to drive evil away around the Spring Festival. That was the earliest form of Spring Festival scroll.
After the Song Dynasty (960-1279), hanging Spring Festival scrolls became a popular tradition, even spreading to neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan and Singapore.
During the Spring Festival, some calligraphy enthusiasts in Jiading District wrote Spring Festival scrolls and presented them to passersby on the street.
Making new clothes
A set of new clothes is a must for a New Year. It has been a tradition for the Spring Festival since the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-589 AD).
It arose in agricultural communities.
Back then, crops matured only at the end of the year, which meant workers got their income for the entire year just before Spring Festival. People would buy something new, especially new clothes, to celebrate the coming New Year.
Nowadays, on the Xidajie Street in Jiading, some families still make new clothes using their sewing machines. Elderly people in the families hope they can bring good wishes to their children with their own hands.
Time for pastries
Eating pastries is a festival tradition for many Chinese people. In Anting Town, Jiading, when people want to eat some festival treats, they go to Deng Wenliang and his son Deng Yaohui, residents of Dengjiajiao Village and master pastry makers. This Spring Festival, the father and son were very busy sending a taste of happiness to their fellow villagers.
Temple prayers
Praying is one of the most common activities in the Spring Festival. Many people visited temples to pray to Buddha, while others just prayed on the street.
During Spring Festival, prayer notes from citizens were hung on “fortune trees” on Zhouqiao Street, and people made their wishes when the bells rang on New Year’s Day.
Haircut
Before the Spring Festival, many Chinese people have their hair cut, implying that “start from the head.” Another reason is that traditionally people don’t have haircut in the first lunar month of the year. They’ll wait until the second day of the second month of lunar calendar when the dragon raises its head in Chinese tales. It symbolizes that people will be successful and powerful like a dragon in the future.
The cure for hunger
At New Year’s Eve dinners, many families serve cured meat and cured fish. Cured food originated in ancient times because it was not easy for people to keep food fresh in those times. There were no fridges in ancient times, and transportation was also pretty poor so food could not be sold to other regions without some kind of preservation.
Cured food symbolizes the food tastes of a family, because most will make their own cured produce, so every family’s fare will have its own unique taste.
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