Chinese
New Year
Spring Festival |
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Introduction
The
oldest and most important festival in China is the Spring Festival,
more commonly known in the West as Chinese New Year. Like all Chinese
festivals, the date of the new year is determined by the lunar/solar
calendar rather than the Western (Gregorian) calendar, so the date of
the holiday varies from late January to mid February.
The Spring
festival celebrates the earth coming back to life, and the start of
ploughing and sowing. In the past, feudal rulers of dynasties placed
great importance on this occasion, and ceremonies to usher in the season
were performed.
Preparations for
the New Year festival start during the last few days of the last moon.
Houses are thoroughly cleaned, debts repaid, hair cut and new clothes
bought. Doors are decorated with vertical scrolls of characters on red
paper whose texts seek good luck and praise nature, this practice
stemming from the hanging of peach-wood charms to keep away ghosts and
evil spirits. In many homes incense is burned, and also in the temples
as a mark of respect to ancestors.
On New Year’s
Eve houses are brightly lit and a large family dinner is served. In the
south of China sticky-sweet glutinous rice pudding called nian gao is
served, while in the north the steamed dumpling jiaozi is popular. Most
celebrating the festival stay up till midnight, when fireworks are lit,
to drive away evil spirits. New Years day is often spent visiting
neighbours, family and friends.
The public
holiday for New Year lasts 3 days in China, but the festival
traditionally lasts till the 15th day of the lunar month and ends with
the ‘Lantern Festival’. Here, houses are decorated with colourful
lanterns, and yuanxioa, a sweet or savoury fried or boiled dumpling made
of glutinous rice flour is eaten.
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| Traditions
Door Gods
During the build up to Chinese New Year Door Gods are placed on the
external doors of houses. This is an age of tradition dating back to the
Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD). The Emperor Taizong is said to have fallen
ill, and had a dream in which ghosts came to the palace in search for
him. He recounted this tale to his officials the next day, and the story
quickly spread through the Imperial Court - such matters were not taken
lightly. The emperors top two generals, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong, both
of whom had fought to establish the Tang dynasty stood guard outside the
emperor's bedroom door.
The emperor
slept soundly in the knowledge that he was protected by these two
generals, and had no further dreams of the ghosts. However, after a few
nights the emperor became concerned for the generals. He ordered that
two paintings be made, one of each general. Once completed, the emperor
had these hung on the door to his room, and relieved the generals.
This tale soon
became widely known, and in their eagerness to share the protection of
these "Door Gods" the common people made their own paintings
and placed them on their doors. the tradition has continued ever since.
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The
Lion Dance
The most spectacular event of the Chinese New Year festivities must
surely be the Lion Dance. Lion dances take place throughout the first
few days of the Chinese New Year, and bring good luck to the households
or businesses which they visit.
The Lion Dance
itself is performed by two 'dancers' one at the head and one at the tail
of the lion. Careful observation of the Lion Dance will show that it is
in fact a very careful demonstration of stylised movements performed by
skilled performers (generally from a martial arts school or acrobatic
company). To enhance the 'life' of the lion, the eyelids, mouth and ears
of the Lion's head all move.
The dance is
accompanied by loud music played on large drum, gong and cymbals. The
use of firecrackers, drums, gongs and cymbals are related to the role of
the lion in dispelling evil and bringing good luck - evil being afraid
of loud noise (See the legend of Nian).
The dramatic
climax of the Lion Dance is the Choi Cheng or 'Picking the Green'. The
green here refers to vegetable leaves which are tied to a piece of
string which also has a red packet attached containing money. The string
is hung above the door of the house or business, and the lion 'eats'
both leaves and red packet. Lying on the floor the leaves are 'chewed'
by the dragon while the musicians play a dramatic rolling crescendo. The
lull is broken as the lion explodes back into activity while spitting
out the leaves. This is a symbolic act of blessing by the lion, with the
spitting out of the leaves signifying that there will be an abundance of
everything in the coming year.
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Nian-
The New Year Monster
Nian in Chinese simply means 'year'. However, it is widely accepted
that the origin of this word comes from the mythical monster that would
come and terrorise humans around the time of the New Year. Indeed, so
fierce was Nian that it threatened to destroy mankind. The Emperor
summoned a wise man to solve this problem. Seeing at first hand the
destruction Nian brought, the wise man approached Nian with a challenge.
"Why do you choose to kill and destroy the humans who are no match
for your strength?" he asked. "Prove your real power by
destroying the other monsters of the earth."
Nian took up
this challenge, and one year later, having destroyed all the monsters of
the earth, he returned to terrorise mankind. However, the day he
returned some children were playing with firecrackers, and they noticed
that Nian was afraid of the noise. From then on each New Year
firecrackers and other fireworks are used to scare away the last
remaining monster of the earth - Nian.
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Chinese New
Year Decorations
Decorations
are an important feature of the celebrations for the Chinese New Year.
One of the
main forms of decoration are the 'Red Couplets', which are Chinese
good luck sayings written on red paper, often with gold trimmings and
usually made up of four Chinese characters which ask for luck in terms
of long life, wealth etc.
Red is not
only a lucky colour for the Chinese, but also frightens off the
monster 'Nian' who arrives at this time of year and destroys crops and
homes.
Some New Year
couplets are intended to be pasted or pinned in special places such as
the kitchen or doors, while some can be placed anywhere. The couplets
are usually taken down after the New Year celebrations, thought some
people keep them up all year long in the hope of keeping good luck.
Chinatown
Online has provided a Chinese New Year couplet for use in classroom
activities. It is in the form of a graphic which you should either
download and print onto an A4 sheet of paper (preferably red!) or
print straight from the browser. The A4 sheet should be cut in half
from top to bottom, and the two strips placed on either side of a
door. The graphic is available either with the characters prefilled
in, or in outline so they may be coloured in in the classroom.
The couplets
say "May you be blessed with peace and safety in all four
seasons" and "May you be blessed with peace and safety
wherever you are".
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