CHINESE NEW YEAR aka LUNAR NEW YEAR

Like most of the world the Chinese celebrate the New Year. Here in America, we celebrate the New Year on the 31st of December and the first of January. The celebration of the New Year lasts only the night of the 31st and the morning of the 1st, during which time we invite friends over for parties; go to dances; watch the ball lowering in Times Square; make a lot of noise; and other such related activities to usher in the New Year.

The Chinese, in China, and throughout the world, celebrate the New Year according to a different calandar. The calendar that the Chinese use to determine the new year is based on the lunar calendar as well as the Gregorian calendar.

It is also based on the changes of nature in the spring. There are few people left who can determine the actual day the New Year begins, as it is such an involved process. This year it started on Feb. 19, but starts on a different date each year. In order to better understand the Chinese New Year we should look at its origin.

(1)The origin of the Chinese New Year is too old to trace; but the tales about it are quite interesting. Legend has it that there was a beast called Nian (which means "year" in Chinese) that would come to China the night before the new year began (according to the Chinese Calendar) and prey upon the people. One of the legends has it that Nian had a very big mouth and that he would swallow a great many people with every bite.

One day an old man came to the rescue of the peoeple, he said to Nian, "I hear that you are a very capable beast, but do you think that you could swallow the other beasts of prey instead of people, who are not worthy opponents?"

So Nian started to swallow the other beast which were harrassing the people anyway. After that the man dissapeared riding Nian, it turns out that the man was really an immortal god.

The old man told the people to put up red decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare away Nian in case he came back. Nian lived in fear of the color red. Red is definitely the luckiest color of all. The people celebrate the New Year by putting up red paper and lighting fire- crackers to scare away Nian. They say the words "Guo Nian" which mean both, "Survive the Nian" and "Celebrate the year." The word "guo" in chinese means both observe, and pass-over.

Another tradition of the Chinese people is to wear bright costumes to attract the god of the universe who is supposed to come back at the begining of the New Year.

(2) The climax of the Chinese New Year lasts only five days including New Year's Eve, but the New Year season is one month long. During the New Year Celebration there is a lot of business and traveling conducted by the Chinese.

The people start to prepare themselves for the five-day New Year celebration a month in advance. At the end of the five-day celebration the people start again to prepare for the lantern festival, which takes place about ten days later. The holiday of the New Year lasts about one month.

The five-day celebration is the most important part of the Chinese celebration. The people will do no cooking, except reheating, during these five days, and shops will be closed. During the month before the celebration takes place chicken, fish, and pork are dried; eggs are preserved, and vegetables are pickled. All food preperation is done in order to be ready for the many guests who will be comming.

On the first day of the five-day celebration, the day of New Year's Eve the people visit family and friends and bid farewell to the old year. Between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. "incense is lit and placed on a table that has been arranged to meet the spirits who will decend to earth" (Hou-Tien). After 11:00 offerings are made to the gods. "The gods are asked to bring peace and prosperity." The people then have a great feast as the festivities of the New Year sound on the streets throughout the night.

(3) On New Year's Day the people all dress in new clothes and spend the day with their families. They exchange gifts; some of these gifts are gifts of money wrapped in red and gold paper. This money is to be spent throughout the holiday. Food is kept warm all day for visiting family. The tradition is to eat dumpling soup; whoever bites into the dumpling with the surprise in it is supposed to have good luck throughout the year.

The second day of the New Year is for visiting family. Money trees are put out as a sign of prosoperity.

(4) The third day of the festival is marked with fire-crackers and the Dragon Dance. This is also the day for the begining of the Lion Dance, which lasts through the fifth day.

The fourth day is a day for people, even strangers to drop in and visit wherever they like.

The fifth day of the New Year is for visiting family who are far away, a day of travel and reunion. On this day all of the shops re-open and teh people can cook again.

The Lantern Festival begins about ten days later, with the first full moon of the New Year, this lasts three days. During thse three days decorated lanterns are hung, the people wear white in honor of the moon and moon cakes are eaten.

The Lantern Festival, comes from the time when the Chinese People would go in search of spirits with burning sticks. They thought that the spirits could be seen during a full moon.

Probably more food is consumed during the New Year celebrations than any other time of the year. Vast amounts of traditional food is prepared for family and friends, as well as those close to us who have died.

On New Year's Day, the Chinese family will eat a vegetarian dish called jai. Although the various ingredients in jai are root vegetables or fibrous vegetables, many people attribute various superstitious aspects to them:

* Lotus seed - signify having many male offspring

* Ginkgo nut - represents silver ingots

* Black moss seaweed - is a homonym for exceeding in wealth

* Dried bean curd is another homonym for fulfillment of wealth and happiness

* Bamboo shoots - is a term which sounds like "wishing that everything would be well"

* Fresh bean curd or tofu is not included as it is white and unlucky for New Year as the color signifies death and misfortune.

Other foods include a whole fish, to represent togetherness and abundance, and a chicken for prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a head, tail and feet to symbolize completeness. Noodles should be uncut, as they represent long life.

In south China, the favorite and most typical dishes were nian gao, sweet steamed glutinous rice pudding and zong zi (glutinous rice wrapped up in reed leaves), another popular delicacy.

In the north, steamed-wheat bread (man tou) and small meat dumplings were the preferred food. The tremendous amount of food prepared at this time was meant to symbolize abundance and wealth for the household.

Lucky Money contained in Red Envelopes or "Lai See" (i have seen these envelopes also in a dark pink as well)

These red envelopes are usually given to children during Chinese New Year. They will contain sweets or more often money which is then considered to be lucky. The envelopes or "Lai See" will also be given on birthdays, at Christmas and to the bride and groom at weddings.

Chinese Colors
(from the ancient art of Feng Shui)

RED: Signifies luck and repels evil or bad spirits

BLUE: Represents water and the flow of good energy

GREEN: Life and the environment

GOLD: Prosperity and Money

YELLOW: The Chinese royal colour

The Chinese God of Wealth

Chinese Lucky Man or "Choi San"

The Chinese God of Wealth appears during the Chinese New Year festivities. He can be likened to a Santa Claus of the Chinese culture. He will be seen spreading good luck and handing out red envelopes as gifts.

The Lion Dance

This martial arts display plays a major role in the Chinese New Year activities. The lions bring good luck and protects from evil spirits. It is lucky for the lion dance to visit your home or business and this is the reason why you will see cabbages or lettuce dangled outside shops in Chinatown as this attracts the lions to visit your building. It is especially lucky if the lion decides to put your head in its mouth! As part of the lion dance procession, there will be specially trained percussionists. The drums represent the lion's heartbeat and must be continuously played as the lions dance or move from one location to another.

Traditional Activities during Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year's Eve - The family will spend time together and enjoy a banquet. The home will be decorated with flowers and plants and will be cleaned including all rubbish thrown out. The belief is that the gods will inspect your house the following day - the tidier it is, the luckier your year will be. At midnight there are street parties and fireworks.

Chinese New Year's Day (Day1)- Again, the family will spend time together. It is considered unlucky to clean up, brush up or even throw rubbish out of the home, that is why it is done the night before! The superstition is that if you throw anything out or brush anything up, you are actually throwing, brushing or washing away your good lick for the New Year. Some think that is is even unlucky to wash your hair! In the evening, the family will eat a vegan meal as a sign of respect to all animals.

Day 2 - Visits will be made to extended family and friends. This will include a trip to the cemetery to pay respects to friends or relatives that have passed away.

Day 3 - The family will stay at home because the superstition says that if you visit anybody on this particular day, you will argue with that person for the rest of the year!

Days 4,5,6 - Things start to return to normal - Children are back in school and shops open again.

Day 7 - National Birthday Day. Everybody celebrates their birthday for the year!