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Traditions and Beliefs In Celebrating the Chinese New YearBY: Eve | Category: Religion | Post Date: 2010-02-14
Anywhere in the world that has a Chinatown, you would likely see and observe how the Chinese people celebrate the Chinese New Year. This kind of celebration is also known as the Spring Festival. A lot of traditions and beliefs are associated with the celebration of the Chinese New Year that is practiced by the traditional Chinese families who have passed them from one generation to the other. The Chinese New Year changes annually. It is based on the Chinese calendar which is a combination of complicated astronomical computations, longitude of the sun and the ordering of the solar/lunar calendar. It usually starts from the middle of the last month of the prior year (based on the Chinese calendar) to the middle of the first month of the coming new year. This length of time has given the Chinese people to already get into their beliefs and traditions by the time the Chinese New Year has finally set in. For this year 2010, the Chinese New Year falls on February 14, which is also Valentine's Day. The New Year celebrations may have developed from a need to commemorate the ending of winter and the productiveness and new beginning that go with the spring. It is still really about family ties and gatherings and the desire for good luck and prosperity for all. The Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival is the foremost customary holiday of China and in some other South Asian countries such as Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. There may be similar celebrations in other parts of the world where there are Chinese residents who still practice this kind of yearly celebration in their areas. The common traditions and beliefs that are practiced are the following: 1. House Cleaning - it is good fortune to keep the house very clean before the New Year and get rid of the bad luck of the previous year. However, remember not to clean during the first few days of the New Year so as not to sweep away the good luck that may have come into the house. 2. Decorate in Red - The color red is the key color, the door or windows are painted with this color to bring in good luck. There are also some paper cuttings that are hung on windows and doors for good luck. Decors may also come in the form of lucky charms that are hung all over the house based on the directions of the good luck signs. 3. Offering Sacrifices to the Kitchen god - there is a poster of the Kitchen god in the kitchen where the family may offer some tokens. This symbolizes their belief that if they give a ceremonial offering, the family would be blessed with good fortune and would surely go to heaven. 4. Family Gathering- New Year's Eve is celebrated with all the families gathered together to eat and do merry-making. They prepare Chinese dumplings wherein a coin is purposely hidden. Anyone who gets the dumpling with the coin inside it is supposed to enjoy good fortune in the coming year. 5. Giving out of money packets - This is usually given to children, red packets or leisee which are adorned with gold characters and are filled with money which are supposed to be ‘lucky money'. 6. Serving of Chinese foods that symbolize wealth and good luck- The whole time of the celebration there are particular foods that are served to represent good luck and wealth. Fish symbolizes wealth, dumplings for good luck; Nian gao is a Chinese New Year pudding for togetherness and prosperity, noodles for long life and a lot more. Fruits like oranges and tangerines are given because they symbolize money and good fortune. 7. Preparation of the Tray of Togetherness- this is an octagon- shaped tray composing of eight compartments that is filled with a symbolic food like lychee nuts and lotus seeds, pumpkin seeds which symbolize a pleasant and sweet start of the New Year, sweet oranges, dumplings and other foods that symbolize wealth, unity and abundance. The Chinese New Year is always a joyous celebration for the Chinese people all over the world. They have been practicing their traditions and beliefs every year, and there are some practices which have been adapted by some countries in some parts of Asia. Nonetheless, knowing about these traditions and beliefs add more to the curiosity of this festival, and is a good way to know more of the Chinese culture as well. 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