In the past, this was a significant holiday for family and friends to visit relatives. This is the perfect time for putting god’s images to doors.
Red lanterns, folk art as well as paper-cuts can be used to decorate the homes. Begin your day by greeting people with “Gong the Xi Fa Chai”. A variation of “Happy New Year’s Day”, or “() is acceptable.
New Year’s Eve
This year, the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival (Chun Jie) is celebrated on the 1st day of the lunar month, about the beginning of spring in China. The Chinese New year can occur between 21 January until 20 February.
The family gathers for a reunion dinner the night before Chinese Year. Year. Most often, it’s a lavish home-made dinner, including many recipes with lucky connotations such as fish (whose pronunciation resembles the word”surplus”) along with dumplings (whose shape resembles ancient monetary ingots). It is generally associated with food items including sweets, candy fruits, snacks, and sweets, which are thought to bring good luck.
Families must not only have a delicious meal, and clean your home in order to expel the evil spirits. For the celebration of the New Year, many people light fireworks. It’s a significant practice and you can witness plenty of fireworks on the sky and on the streets of cities and the villages of rural areas in China. Moreover, the younger members of the family receive an envelope of money in red from their elders and wish them a happy future year.
New Year’s Day
It is the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is an important festival that celebrates the spring season. It’s a festival that includes various traditions that are exclusive to China as well as its various ethnic groups across the globe. The celebration is held between 21st of January to the 20th February, according to the lunar calendar.
New Year’s Eve is celebrated with family and friends. This is the time to celebrate making a wish to our elders, and to ask for their blessings. Families and parents hand kids red envelopes with cash for good luck. The money symbolizes wealth and prosperity to come in the near future.
Cleansers clean their homes and make them look festive for the new year. Then, they gift presents to family and friends. Most people eat noodles, fruits, and dumplings. Tangyuan, or glutinous rice balls, are extremely popular for New Year desserts. The word “tangyuan” means reunion. Eating these sweets symbolizes that you want a calm and happy family in the coming year.
The Chinese believe that the new year is a time to rid themselves of bad luck and welcome good fortune. Hence, they make special effort to refrain from doing any actions that could bring bad luck.
Lantern Festival
It is believed that the Lantern Festival takes place on the 15th day of the Chinese lunar calendar. It’s an expression of reunion and optimism. Also, it is a chance to remember the dead ancestors of our past. On this day, worshippers visit temples for luck and to write their hopes on lanterns, which is then lit and thrown into the air.
Lanterns may come with a diverse range of designs and colors. Bulb can be controlled to change colors and turn on/off as the music plays. The result is a spectacular spectacle of lights that move, especially when done in large groups.
Alongside lanterns, another popular activity at this Lantern Festival is solving riddles concealed in decorations. There will be a gift to the person who has solved a riddle.
Lion and Dragon dances are included in the festival. The performances include cymbals clashing and a gong. These performances are an excellent opportunity to celebrate with a bang at the end of New Year.
Dragon Dance
The Dragon Dance is a colorful Chinese dance that’s usually performed during certain occasions like Chinese New Year. The belief is that it will eliminate bad luck and also bring luck. The common sight is dragon dances in China and also in Chinatowns throughout the world where there are huge Chinese communities.
Costumes for dancers are constructed of brightly colored fabrics and lights. The costumes are often so huge that it requires 100 dancers in order to perform them. The dragon is a powerful symbol of power, dignity and fertilty. The dragon dance is a combination of martial arts, acrobatics, music and art to give an enthralling performance.
The dancers are instructed to move their head like a Dragon and move it up and down, and from in a side-to-side manner using precise movements. The leader of the group controls the head of the Dragon which causes it to move, swoop and dip. Northern Dragons are usually composed of paper or plant fibers and are much lighter than the southern dragons. Dancers use fancy movements as well as flexibility in a dark environment. They can also alter the head in order to give the Dragon an animated appearance, blinking the eyes.
Fireworks
There is a reason for this. Chinese New Year is a celebration steeped in both legends and historical events. In the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, as it is known by other Asians who use the lunar calendars in their countries it is a festival that takes place every year. This celebration is observed across all over the world, including China, North Korea and South Korea.
According to legends in the past, thousands of years ago an evil creature called Nian was seen in villages on Lunar New Year’s Eve. The monster consumed animals and humans. They learned that Nian was terrified of the brightness of lights as well as loud sounds and red. So they used firecrackers as well as red-colored decorations to frighten Nian away. This became the origin of several Chinese New Year rituals.
Today’s celebration includes the family dinner, exchanging money in red envelopes to children and others, visit to relatives and friends, setting off fireworks and, in some places, a parade featuring a dragon dance. It is a time to reflect on the past year’s accomplishments and plan for having a happy and prosperous new one. Traditional greetings include”gong xi (pronounced gong-shee) and means “happiness and abundance.” The phrases typically are spoken in Mandarin or Cantonese.
Food
Many traditional Chinese foods are consumed to boost luck and fortune during the Chinese New Year. Families from all generations come together to celebrate Chinese New Year and eat, food plays a significant aspect. Most popular Chinese New Year food includes Tangerines and Oranges since they sound like words that represent wealth and luck; dumplings, whose names are in line with surplus as symbol of wealth; the nian gao rice cake (which sounds like the phrase “getting better every year”) are for those who want to achieve higher financial status or gain more income.
The rice ball that is glutinous, called Yuanxiao in Chinese, is stuffed with the pork fat, mung beans chestnuts, chestnuts and lotus leaf, before being wrapped in a circular shape. Then, they are steamed or boiled before being sliced into wheels. The round shape symbolizes family reunion and longevity.
The Longevity noodles are yet another unique meal for Chinese New Year as they are made with thin, long wheat noodles that symbolize a long lifespan. The noodles are typically cooked, boiled or baked in broth and served alongside other dishes. This dish is an absolute must in the period of Lunar New Year for Chinese family members.
The Gift
This Chinese New Year is a time to celebrate prosperity, good luck and all kinds of gifts. There are numerous ways you can send your heartfelt wishes to those you love, whether it includes red envelopes packed with money, or stunning flower arrangements like peonies, or lump blossoms.
However, there are certain things you should avoid giving to your loved ones – like any item that is black or blue, which represents mourning or the color white, which is associated with funerals. Additionally, you should stay clear of gifts that have the letter four (pronounced sh n 4) in the sense that this is thought of as negative luck.
Red is the primary colour in this year’s Chinese traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. Home and businesses are decorated with red papercuts and spring couplets. This keeps away bad spirits and wish good health, happiness, and long-lasting life. Kwong recommends incorporating dragons into the celebration, the zodiac symbol of 2024. The dragon is robust and generous. It represents strength and luck.
To help you get into the spirit, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite Lunar New Year gifts that also serve as a way for you to donate to businesses owned by AAPI. Check ufabet out below.