Labels: Part C: Chinese New YearPart C : Chinese New Year
Myth
According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the battle against a mythical beast called the Nian or "Year" in Chinese. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, harvests, and villagers, especially children. Therefore, villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year, so as to protect themselves. The people believed that if Nian was fed, it would not harass any more people. The people discovered that Nian feared red when they saw Nian fled from a little child wearing red. Hence, every time when the New Year was approaching, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.Interesting facts:
New clothes are usually worn to signify a new year. The colour red is abundantly used in all decorations. Red packets are given to juniors and children by the married and elders.
Cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the prior year and makes their homes set for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing, shoes and receiving a hair-cut also symbolize a fresh start.
New Year Eve:
The reunion dinner and preparation constitute Chinese New Year’s Eve. A dish consisting of fish will appear on the tables of Chinese families during reunion dinner. In northern China, it is customary to make dumpling after dinner and have it around midnight. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael. In the South, it is traditional to make a new year cake after dinner and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days of the new year. Niangao literally means increasingly prosperous year in year out. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous and traditionally includes chicken and fish. In some areas, fish is included, but not finished, as the Chinese phrase "may there be surpluses every year" sounds the same as "may there be fish every year." Red packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner. The money contained inside these packets are in numbers that reflect good luck and honorability. Many foods that are consumed are believed to be able to usher in wealth, happiness, and good fortune. Several of the Chinese food names are homophones for words that also mean good things.First day
The first day is for the convivial of the deities of the heavens and earth, formally beginning at midnight. Many people, especially Buddhists, abstain from meat consumption on the first day because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them. Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day, so all food to be consumed is cooked the day before.Second day
The second day of the Chinese New Year is for married daughters to visit their birth parents.
On the second day, the Chinese pray to their ancestors as well as to all the gods. They are extra kind to dogs and feed them well as it is believed that the second day is the birthday of all dogs.Third and fourth days of the new year
The third and fourth day of the Chinese New Year are generally accepted as inappropriate days to visit relatives and friends due to the following schools of thought.1) It is known as "chì kou" (赤口), meaning that it is easy to get into arguments. It is suggested that the cause could be the fried food and visiting during the first two days of the New Year celebration.2) Families who had an immediate kin deceased in the past 3 years will not go house-visiting as a form of respect to the dead, but people may visit them on this day. Some people then conclude that it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead.
Fifth day of the new year
In northern China, people eat Jiaozi or dumplings on the morning of Po Wu (破五). This is also the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth.Seventh day of the new year
The seventh day, traditionally known as renri, the common man's birthday, is the day when everyone grows one year older.
It is the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.
For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat.Ninth day of the new year
The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jad Emperor of Heaven in the Taoist Pantheon. The ninth day is customarily the birthday of the Jade Emperor. This day is especially important to Hokkiens. Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago. Incense, tea, fruit, vegetarian food or roast pig, and paper gold are served as a customary procedure for paying respect to an honored person.Fifteenth day of the New Year
The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as Yuánxiāo jié, otherwise known as Chap Goh Mei in Fujian dialect. Rice dumplings Tangyuan, a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, is eaten this day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home. This day is celebrated as the Lantern Festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns.
This day often marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.Food items
Buddha's delight(luóhàn zhāi)
An sophisticated vegetarian dish is served by Chinese families on the eve and the first day of the New Year. It contains a type of algae that look like black hair. Pronounced as "fat choy" in Cantonese, it is also featured in the dish for its name, which sounds like "prosperity". Hakkas usually serve kiu nyuk and ngiong tiu fu.
Fish
Is generally eaten but can be displayed on Chinese New Year’s Eve as a ornamental item. The pronunciation of fish sound like "surpluses.
Jiaozi dumplings
It is served traditionally in northern China because the preparation of the dumpling is similar to packaging luck inside the dumpling.When the dumpling is eaten later, luck is transferred to them.
Mandarin oranges
Mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year – jin ju translation: golden tangerine/orange or kam. Also, the name "jīn jí" is a homophone of "golden luck" or "gold .
Nian gao
Its pronunciation is a homophone for "a more prosperous year". Known as Chinese New Year pudding, nian gao is made up of glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, salt, water, and sugar. The colour of the sugar used determines the colour of the pudding (white or brown).Noodles
Uncut noodles, which represent longevity and long life, are served during Chinese New Year though this practice is not limited to the new year.
Bakkwa
Chinese salty-sweet dried meat, similar to jerky, which is trimmed of the fat, sliced, marinated and then smoked for later consumption or as a gift.
Yusheng
Raw fish salad. Eating this salad is said to bring good luck. This dish is usually eaten on the seventh day of the New Year, but may also be eaten throughout the period. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.Symbolism
During Chinese New Year, people will see superstitious or traditional cultural beliefs with meanings which can be baffling in the eyes of those who do not rejoice this occasion. There is a customary reason that explains why everything, not just limited to decorations, are centered on the colour red. Gold is the accompanying colour at times for reasons such as wealth and fortune. One best and common example is the red diamond-shaped posters with the character 福, or "auspiciousness" which are displayed around the house and on doors. This sign is usually seen hanging upside down, since the Chinese word 倒or "upside down", sounds similar as 到 or "arrive". Therefore, it symbolizes the arrival of luck, happiness, and prosperity.FlowersPeach blossom symbolises luck.
Kumquat symbolises prosperity.
Narcissus symbolises prosperity.
Chrysanthemum symbolises longevity.
Sunflower symbolises a good year.Icons
Fish
Fish symbolizes surplus.
LanternsLanterns are red in colour and tend to be oval in shape. These are the traditional Chinese paper lanterns that are bright and colourful.
Decorations
Decorations express a New Year greeting. Chinese calligraphy posters show Chinese idioms. Other decorations include a New year picture, Chinese knots, and paper cutting and couplets.
Dragon dance and Lion dance
It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the deafening sounds of the cymbals together with the face of the dragon or lion dancing aggressively can evict bad or evil spirits.
Fortune gods
Symbolises fortune and wealth.Good luck
Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the New Year.Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.Consumers eat sweet to ensure a "sweet" year.It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year.Chinese people will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you. However, buying a pair of shoes is different as shown in the bad luck section.People bathe in pomelo leaves during New Year Eve’s night to ensure good health for the rest of the new year.Changing different things in the house such as blankets, clothes, mattress covers is also a well respected tradition in terms of cleaning the house in preparation for the new year.Bad luckBuying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck amongst some Chinese. The character for "shoe” is a homophone for the character 諧/谐, which means "rough" in Cantonese; in Mandarin it is also a homophone for the character for "evil" (邪).Getting a hair-cut in the first lunar month puts a curse on maternal uncles.Washing your hair is also considered to be washing away one's own luck.
Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the New Year.Saying words like "finished" and "gone" is inauspicious on the New Year, so sometimes people would avoid these words by saying "I have completed eating my meal" rather than say "I have finished my meal."Talking about death is inappropriate for the first few days of Chinese New Year, as it is considered inauspicious.Buying books is bad luck because the character for "book" (书) is a homonym to the character for “loses" (输).Refrain from wearing clothes in inauspicious colours like black and white, as black is a sign of bad luck, and white is a traditional Chinese funeral colour.Foul language is inappropriate during the Chinese New Year.Offering anything in fours is not appropriate, as the number four (四), pronounced sì, sounds like "death”.People should never (are discouraged to) buy a clock for someone or for himself/herself because a clock holds the meaning in Chinese tradition as limiting one's life is or "the end”.People are to keep away from medicine and medicine related activities as it will bestow a bad luck on one's health and wellbeing and will lessen the luck one can obtain from New Years. Numerous other greetings exist, some of which may be exclaimed out loud to no one in particular in specific situations. For example, as breaking objects during the New Year is considered inauspicious, one may then say 歲歲平安 (Suìsuì píng'ān) immediately, which means everlasting peace year after year. 歲 (Suì, meaning "age") is homophonous with 碎 (meaning "shatter"), in demonstration of the Chinese love for wordplay in auspicious phrases. Similarly, 年年有餘 (Niánnián yǒuyú), a wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year, plays on the word yú to also refer to 魚 (meaning fish), making it a catch phrase for fish-based Chinese new year dishes and for paintings or graphics of fish that are hung on walls or presented as gifts. (Edited from Wikipedia)Personal opinion:The Chinese New Year is initially a 15 days celebration. But in present day Singapore, do we celebrate the Chinese New Year for 15 days? All of us are busy working and studying each day. Even during the New Year, we are only given 2 days of public holiday (excluding weekends). Let us ponder on what we can do if we are granted 15 days worth of holidays during the Chinese New Year.
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