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Happy Lunar New Year
By Pan Zheng |
January 30, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SPRING Festival, like Christmas in the West, has always been the most important festival each year for the Chinese. It marks the beginning of a Lunar New Year, and during the festival, firecrackers light up the sky and scare away ghosts, family members reunite, children get gift money from elders ? and the natural environment shows various scenes of the same theme, that spring is coming. This month, we'll introduce you to the origin and history of the Spring Festival and some traditional Chinese customs involved. And we will bring you traditions and tips to help make the most of the holiday in Minhang District. Pan Zheng reports.
Preparing Spring Festival Goods
Festivals bring plenty of cooking and chores for families, so an important part of modern traditions is shopping for food and new clothes.
Food is always the most important since people visit each other frequently during the festival. Rice cakes, dumplings, fish, fruit, snacks ? a grand banquet needs a lot of materials.
Besides food, new clothes are also necessary. According to Chinese tradition, even if you've worn old clothes for an entire year, you must change into something new on the first day of a new year.
Setting off Firecrackers
After the family reunion dinner, it's time to light firecrackers. It has also been a very old tradition that the first thing every family should do in a new year is to set off firecrackers to drive away the old and welcome the new.
For businessmen, it's also a symbol of good fortune for those who set off the first firecracker of a New Year.
So, the closer it gets to midnight, the louder the firecrackers sound.
Watching Spring Festival Gala Evening
It's not a historical tradition, but it's becoming a popular custom all over the country.
Held by CCTV, the entertainment spectacular begins at 8pm on Lunar New Year's Eve and ends at 12:30am or 1am on Lunar New Year's Day. It was first held in 1983, and soon became an indispensable entertainment for Chinese people during and after their family reunion dinner.
Considering that every year there are about 1 billion viewers, it's worth watching if you haven't seen it before.
Welcoming the God of Fortune
Besides New Year's Eve, there's another night that firecrackers sound very loud -- the fourth day of the lunar new year.
According to the ancient tradition, the fifth day is when the God of Fortune visits. So at midnight on the fourth day, people open all their windows and doors and set off firecrackers to welcome the god.
As with New Year's Eve, it's believed that whoever sets off the first firecracker hits a fortune. So it's time for another sleepless night.
Family Reunion Dinner
This is the happiest moment for every family during the festival. The dinner is held on Lunar New Year's Eve. Some food can be prepared several days ahead, but the rice must be cooked on the day.
If a family member can't attend the reunion, the family will still put an extra bowl and a pair of chopsticks on the table to represent the absent one.
Fish and dumplings are two musts on the dinner table. Fish in Chinese is pronounced the same as abundance, and dumplings look like ingots which used to be a currency in ancient China, standing for good fortune.
Hanging Door Gods
The custom of pasting or hanging pictures of Door Gods has been a tradition all over the country for a long time. Originally the Door Gods were carved from peach wood. Later, people preferred to draw them on paper because it was much more convenient.
Ancient myth says that the Door Gods were two brothers, Shentu and Yulei, who were in charge of the ghost world. While they guard your home, evil ghosts won't harm you.
Later, the Door Gods were turned into real historic persons, such as Qin Shubao and Yuchi Jingde in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in the period of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220-280). No matter who they are, they were all brave and valiant generals of their own time.
Preparing Spring Festival Goods
Festivals bring plenty of cooking and chores for families, so an important part of modern traditions is shopping for food and new clothes.
Food is always the most important since people visit each other frequently during the festival. Rice cakes, dumplings, fish, fruit, snacks ? a grand banquet needs a lot of materials.
Besides food, new clothes are also necessary. According to Chinese tradition, even if you've worn old clothes for an entire year, you must change into something new on the first day of a new year.
Setting off Firecrackers
After the family reunion dinner, it's time to light firecrackers. It has also been a very old tradition that the first thing every family should do in a new year is to set off firecrackers to drive away the old and welcome the new.
For businessmen, it's also a symbol of good fortune for those who set off the first firecracker of a New Year.
So, the closer it gets to midnight, the louder the firecrackers sound.
Watching Spring Festival Gala Evening
It's not a historical tradition, but it's becoming a popular custom all over the country.
Held by CCTV, the entertainment spectacular begins at 8pm on Lunar New Year's Eve and ends at 12:30am or 1am on Lunar New Year's Day. It was first held in 1983, and soon became an indispensable entertainment for Chinese people during and after their family reunion dinner.
Considering that every year there are about 1 billion viewers, it's worth watching if you haven't seen it before.
Welcoming the God of Fortune
Besides New Year's Eve, there's another night that firecrackers sound very loud -- the fourth day of the lunar new year.
According to the ancient tradition, the fifth day is when the God of Fortune visits. So at midnight on the fourth day, people open all their windows and doors and set off firecrackers to welcome the god.
As with New Year's Eve, it's believed that whoever sets off the first firecracker hits a fortune. So it's time for another sleepless night.
Family Reunion Dinner
This is the happiest moment for every family during the festival. The dinner is held on Lunar New Year's Eve. Some food can be prepared several days ahead, but the rice must be cooked on the day.
If a family member can't attend the reunion, the family will still put an extra bowl and a pair of chopsticks on the table to represent the absent one.
Fish and dumplings are two musts on the dinner table. Fish in Chinese is pronounced the same as abundance, and dumplings look like ingots which used to be a currency in ancient China, standing for good fortune.
Hanging Door Gods
The custom of pasting or hanging pictures of Door Gods has been a tradition all over the country for a long time. Originally the Door Gods were carved from peach wood. Later, people preferred to draw them on paper because it was much more convenient.
Ancient myth says that the Door Gods were two brothers, Shentu and Yulei, who were in charge of the ghost world. While they guard your home, evil ghosts won't harm you.
Later, the Door Gods were turned into real historic persons, such as Qin Shubao and Yuchi Jingde in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in the period of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220-280). No matter who they are, they were all brave and valiant generals of their own time.
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