History
Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, starts at the beginning of spring. It occurs somewhere between January and February. Each Chinese year is represented by a repeated cycle of 12 animals, the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare or Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram or Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. It is most important event of the Chinese celebrations. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on Chinese New Year's Day, celebrated on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, i.e. the day of the second new moon after the day on which the winter solstice occurs, unless there is an intercalary eleventh or twelfth month in the lead-up to the New Year—in such a case, the New Year falls on the day of the third new moon after the solstice (The next time this occurs is in 2033). The Chinese New Year period ends with the festival, the fifteenth day of the month.
Its origin is ancient, in fact, too old to actually be traced, but many believe the word Nian, which means "year", was the name of a beast that preyed on people on the eve of a new year. Some Chinese believe that Nian ("Nyehn") was a reptilian predator that could infiltrate houses silently like the infamous man-eating leopards of India. The Chinese soon learned that Nian was sensitive to loud noises, and they scared it away with explosions and fireworks.
In one legend, the beast, Nian, had the power to swallow up all the people in a village in one big bite. Village people were very scared of Nian. One day, an old man came to the villagers' rescue, offering to subdue Nian. The old man asked Nian, "I know you can swallow people, but can you swallow other beasts of prey instead of people who are by no means your worthy opponents?" Nian accepted the old man's challenge and swallowed the beasts that had harassed the villagers and their farm animals for years. At the end of the legend, the old man disappeared riding off on Nian. In this legend, the old man turned out to be an immortal god. In the end, Nian is gone and the other beasts of prey are scared into hiding in the forests. The villagers can once again enjoy their peaceful life.
The legend goes on to say before the old man left, he told the villagers to put red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end in order to keep Nian away. It is believed Nian is afraid of the color red. The tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which means "Survive the Nian" became "Celebrate the Year" and the word "guo" in Chinese means both "pass over" and "observe". The custom of putting up red paper and lighting firecrackers to scare away Nian continues today.
Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered to be a major holiday for the Chinese as well as ethnic groups such as the Mongolians, Koreans, the Miao (Chinese Hmong) and the Vietnamese, who were influenced by Chinese culture in terms of religious and philosophical world view, language and culture in general. Chinese New Year is also the time when the largest human migration takes place when Chinese all around the world return home on Chinese New Year eve to have reunion dinner with their family.
Customs and Traditions
House Cleaning
The entire house should be cleaned before New Year's Day. On New Year's Eve, all brooms, brushes, dusters, dust pans and other cleaning equipment are put away. Sweeping or dusting should not be done on New Year's Day for fear that good fortune will be swept away. After New Year's Day, the floors may be swept.
Beginning at the door, the dust and rubbish are swept to the middle of the parlor, then placed in the corners and not taken or thrown out until the fifth day. At no time should the rubbish in the corners be trampled upon.
In sweeping, there is a superstition that if you sweep the dirt out over the threshold, you will sweep one of the family away. Also, to sweep the dust and dirt out of your house by the front entrance is to sweep away the good fortune of the family; it must always be swept inwards and then carried out, then no harm will follow. All dirt and rubbish must be taken out the back door.
Kitchen God
After the house was cleaned it was time to bid farewell to the Kitchen God, or Zaowang. In traditional China, the Kitchen God was regarded as the guardian of the family hearth. He was identified as the inventor of fire, which was necessary for cooking and was also the censor of household morals. By tradition, the Kitchen God left the house on the 23rd of the last month to report to heaven on the behavior of the family. At this time, the family did everything possible to obtain a favorable report from the Kitchen God. On the evening of the 23rd, the family would give the Kitchen God a ritualistic farewell dinner with sweet foods such as 'nian gao' and honey. Some said this was a bribe, others said it sealed his mouth from saying bad things.
Free from the every-watchful eyes of the Kitchen God, who was supposed to return on the first day of the New Year, the family now prepared for the upcoming celebrations. In old China, stores closed shop on the last two or three days of the year and remained closed for the first week of the New Year. Consequently, families were busy in the last week of the old year stocking up on foods and gifts. The last days of the old year was also the time to settle accumulated debts.
Family Celebration
On the last day of the old year, everyone was busy either in preparing food for the next two days, or in going to the barbers and getting tidied up for the New Year's Day. Tradition stipulated that all food be prepared before the New Year's Day, so that all sharp instruments, such as knives and scissors, could be put away to avoid cutting the "luck" of the New Year. The kitchen and well were not to be disturbed on the first day of the Year.
The New Year's Eve and New Year's Day celebrations were strictly family affairs. All members of the family would gather for the important family meal on the evening of the New Year's Eve. Even if a family member could not attend, an empty seat would be kept to symbolize that person's presence at the banquet. At midnight following the banquet, the younger members of the family would bow and pay their respects to their parents and elders. "Gong Xi Fa Cai" are the most common traditional Happy New Year Greetings wishing the recipient congratulations and prosperity for the new year.
Very early the next morning, children greet their parents and receive their New Year present. They get lucky red envelopes, called "ang pau" with money inside. The rest of the first day of the New Year is spent visiting relatives, friends and neighbors.
Besides, lion dances (or perform dragon dances) are popular and entertaining with their mixture of flamboyant lion costumes, martial arts background of the lion dancers and loud drums. Usually, these entertaining performance of lion dances throughout the 15 days of Chinese New Year.
The First Day of New Year
The first day of the Lunar New Year is "the welcoming of the gods of the heavens and earth". Many people abstain from meat on the first day of the new year because it is believed that this will ensure long and happy lives for them. Also, some believe it is bad luck to wash your hair on this day because you would wash away the good luck of the new year. It is believed that if you cry on New Year's Day, you will cry all through the year. Therefore, children are indulged by their parents, even though they might be naughty they are not punished on New Year's Day!
New Year's Day is also celebrated within the family. Usually family members gather on the morning of New Year's Day. It is at this gathering that red packets are given to unmarried members of the family. The age of the recipient is not material to receiving the packets. Married couples usually give out two red packets on the first new year after being married. This is because the wife presents one and the husband presents one. In subsequent years they may give one as a couple.
Red packets traditionally consisted of amounts which were considered multiples. Amounts like RM 2 (two piece of RM 1), or RM 20 were acceptable. However, this is not strictly adhered to. The gift was originally a token amount but these days it is not uncommon to receive large sums in affluent families. In some families this tradition has evolved into the practice to substituting money-like instruments (stocks, bonds, unit trust) in place of large sums of cash.
Red packets are also given to unmarried visitors but the sums are often smaller than the packets given to family members or close friends.
The Second Day of New Year
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. The second day of the new year is usually for visiting the family of the wife if a couple is married. A large feast is also typically held on the second day of the new year.
The Fifth Day of New Year
The fifth day is called Po Woo. On that day people stay home to welcome the God of Wealth. No one visits families and friends on the fifth day because it will bring both parties bad luck.
The Seventh Day of New Year
The entire first week was a time for socializing and amusement. On the streets, the stores were closed and an air of gaiety prevailed. There were numberous lion dances, acrobats, theatrical shows, and other diversions. Firecrackers, which symbolized driving away evil spirits, were heard throughout the first two weeks of the New year. (Firecrackers have been banned in Malaysia and must a permit from the police authority). The Seventh Day of the New Year was called "everybody’s birthday" as everyone was considered one year older as of that date. (In traditional China, individual birthdays were not considered as important as the New Year’s date. Everyone added a year to his age at New Year’s time rather than at his birthday.)
It is also the day when tossed fish salad, yusheng, is eaten. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity. This is only celebrated amongst the Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore.
The Eighth Day of New Year
On the eighth day the Fujian people have another family reunion dinner, and at midnight they pray to Tian Gong, the God of Heaven.
The Ninth Day of New Year
The ninth day is to make offerings to the Jade Emperor.
The Fifteenth Day of New Year
The New Year celebrations ended on the 15th of the First Moon with the Lantern Festival. It is known as Chap Goh Mei, which represents the fifteenth and final day of the Lunar New Year period as celebrated by Chinese migrant communities. The term is from the Hokkien dialect and literally means the fifteenth day of the first month.
The occasion is marked by feasting and various festivities. On the evening of that day, people carried lanterns into the streets to take part in a great parade. Young men would highlight the parade with a dragon dance. The dragon was made of bamboo, silk, and paper, and might stretch for more than hundred feet in length. The bobbing and weaving of the dragon was an impressive sight, and formed a fitting finish to the New Year festival.
In Taiwan and Hong Kong it is celebrated as the Lantern Festival. In Southeast Asia it is known as the Chinese Valentine's Day, when young unmarried women gather to toss or throw tangerines into the sea, river or lake, in a hope that their future spouse will pick it up - a custom that originated in Penang, Festival of Malaysia. In the past, this is also the only day that unmarried ladies can be seen with their partners.
It is also the day when the Chinese people welcome the first full moon of the new year. A typical food is "Tang Yuan", dumplings made of glutinous rice rolled into balls and stuffed with either sweet or spicy fillings. The Festival of the Lanterns mark the end of the New Year's celebration and life goes back to normal.
Traditional Costume
The cheongsam is a female dress with distinctive Chinese features and enjoys a growing popularity in the international world of high fashion. It is wore during the Chinese New Year in the olden days. However, nowadays, it seldom being wear in the Chinese New Year, but on many special occasions such as wedding, formal party and others.
The name "cheongsam," meaning simply "long dress," entered the English vocabulary from the dialect of China's Guangdong Province (Cantonese). In other parts of the country including Beijing, however, it is known as "qipao", which has a history behind why woman wearing cheongsam.
When the early Manchu rulers came to China proper, they organized certain people, mainly Manchus, into "banners" (qi) and called them "banner people" (qiren), which then became loosely the name of all Manchus. The Manchu women wore normally a one-piece dress which, likewise, came to be called "qipao" or "banner dress." Although the 1911 Revolution toppled the rule of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, the female dress survived the political change and, with later improvements, has become the traditional dress for Chinese women.
Easy to slip on and comfortable to wear, the cheongsam fits well the female Chinese figure. Its neck is high, collar lady in cheongsam closed, and its sleeves may be either short, medium or full length, depending on season and taste. The dress is buttoned on the right side, with a loose chest, a fitting waist, and slits up from the sides, all of which combine to set off the beauty of the female shape.
The cheongsam is not too complicated to make. Nor does it call for too much material, for there are no accessories like belts, scarves, sashes or frills to go with it.
Another beauty of the cheongsam is that, made of different materials and to varying lengths, they can be worn either on casual or formal occasions. In either case, it creates an impression of simple and quiet charm, elegance and neatness. No wonder it is so much liked by women not only of China but of foreign countries as well.
Traditional New Year Food
There are many foods in Chinese culture associated with the Chinese New Year. Although preferences vary from region to region, some examples include the following:
- Bamboo Shoots - a term, in Chinese, which is pronounced as "zhu sun", sounds like 'wishing that everything would be well'. It means 'a wish for all to go well'.
- Black moss seaweed - A hairlike plant ('fa-chai') that one consumes during this period because in Chinese, "fa" sounds the same as 'financial prosperity'. Hence the obsession with the number '8' which has the same sound - 'fa' or to be prosperous is a homonym for exceeding in wealth. The Chinese add this to soups and use it as a garnish.
- Chicken is also a common food in Chinese New Year. It is presented whole with a head, tail and feet to symbolise completeness and is eaten for prosperity. Although it can be eaten everyday now, but it still reperesents a great meaning when eating it during Chinese New Year.
- Dried Bean Curd - homonym for fulfillment of wealth and happiness.
- Fa Gao, literally translated as "Prosperity Cake", fagao is made with wheat flour, water, sugar and leavened with either yeast or baking powder. 'Fa gao' batter is steamed until it rises and splits open at the top. The sound "fa" means either "to raise/generate" or "be prosperous", hence its well intending secondary meaning.
- Ginkgo Nuts represents silver ingots. It is usually cooked as a dessert with dried longan, red dates and lotus seed.
- Jiao Zi or dumplings, are small or large mounds of dough that are usually dropped into a liquid mixture (such as soup or stew) and cooked until done, some are stuffed with meat and/or vegetables.
- Lor Bak Go or Turnip Cake is available at dim sum restaurants year-round but has a special significance during Chinese New Year as the word Go sounds like the Chinese word for tall or high and symbolises advancement. It is therefore a symbol of prosperity and rising fortune.
- Lotus seed - signify having many male offspring.
- Mandarin oranges or Tangerines are symbol of wealth and good fortune. The Cantonese word for these oranges is a homonym for gold. Etiquette dictates that you must bring a bag of oranges and tangerines and enclose a lai see when visiting family or friends anytime during the two-week long Chinese New Year celebration. Tangerines with leaves intact assure that one's relationship with the other remains secure. For newlyweds, this represents the branching of the couple into a family with many children. Oranges and tangerines are symbols for abundant happiness.
- Melon seed - signify lots of children in the family.
- Nian Gao or New Year's cake (glutinous rice flour pudding) comes in two varieties - white (coconut) and brown (brown sugar). It is steamed in a round dish, cooled, cut into bite-size pieces and pan-fried (sometimes fried after having been dipped in egg) then served hot. The glutinous rice flour used in the cake symbolises cohesiveness, the round shape represents unity of family, the sugar represents the sweetness of life and the slight rising of the cake indicates rising fortune.
As such, eating 'nian gao' has the symbolism of raising oneself higher in each coming year. Chinese families who practice Chinese traditional religion also offer nian gao to the kitchen god, Zao Jun. It is believed that all the household gods go off to heaven to report on a family during the new year. Serving 'nian gao' to the kitchen god is believed to help him provide a sweet report on the family because he will be satisfied and not inclined to deliver criticism — or that his lips are so sticky from the cakes that he is unable to make too much of a report. - Noodles symbolise longevity and are always served uncut. It is customary to eat noodles on birthdays and as the seventh day after the New Year is viewed as everybody's birthday, they are eaten as part of the celebrations.
- Tang Yuan - It is a kind of round-shaped dumplings made of glutinous rice. It is homonym to Chinese word 'tuan yuan', which means reunion of the family.
- Tray of Togetherness. Many families put together a Tray of Togetherness (chuen-hop) for the New Year. The tray is packed full of dried fruits, sweets, and candies and served to guests and relatives who visit. It normally has eight sides (the number eight is lucky in Chinese and is a symbol of prosperity) and is filled with goodies like red dates which bring hope for prosperity; melon seeds for proliferation; nuts such as pistachio (named Happy Nuts) for happiness and candies.
- Whole steamed fish is a symbol of long life and good fortune. This can be seen in wall decorations of fish themes. The Chinese word 'yu', meaning "fish", shares the same pronunciation with the another Chinese word, which means "surplus" (e.g. having money left over from covering expenses). The common greeting for the new year "nian nian you yu" can mean to enjoy a surplus, i.e. financial security, year after year.
- Yusheng, a salad of raw fish and shredded crunchy vegetables (such as carrots, jicama, pickled ginger and pomelo) in a plum sauce dressing. Although commonly served in China throughout the year, it was popularised as a Chinese New Year dish in Singapore and Malaysia, a practise which has since spread to other Chinese communities. Originally served only on the seventh day of the new year, it is now eaten on any day, sometimes as early as two weeks prior to the commencement of the new year.