Spring Festival is regarded as the most important traditional festival
in China. Chinese people do lots of things to celebrate it.
Before
the Spring Festival every year, people are very active to do shopping
to buy necessities for the lunar New Year, make new clothes, thoroughly
clean houses, paste New Year pictures and paper scrolls bearing
auspicious antithetical couplet in the house, offer sacrifices to
Kitchen God, enjoy a family reunion, stay up all night to "see the year
out," have a sumptuous dinner on the Spring Festival Eve, eat laba
porridge and spring pancakes, enjoying themselves to their hearts妤?
content.
In addition, people do some Chinese Knots to decorate
the houses. Chinese Knots are the propitious things which can bring good
luck. They are also the typical local arts of China. Chinese people
have known how to tie knots using cords ever since they began learned
how to attach animal pelts to their bodies to keep warm thousands of
years ago. As civilization advanced, Chinese people used knots for more
than just fastening and wrapping. The knots are pulled tightly together
and are sturdy enough to be used for binding or wrapping, making them
very practical. Furthermore, the complicated structure of the Chinese
knot allows all kinds of variations and enhances its decorative value.
Another
interesting custom is that people send the red packets each other to
express best wishes. The cash wrapped up in red paper forms a red packet
which symbolizes fortune and wealth in the coming year.
All
these customary activities during the Spring Festival have been
inherited and evolved from various kinds of ancient ceremonies for
praying for good fortune over the past thousands of years, and each of
them has special historical significance.
*Spring Festival Eve DinnerSpring Festival Eve dinner, a reunion dinner, also called "tuanyuan fan"
in Chinese, is an extremely important dinner. "tuanyuan" means "getting
together". Wherever they are, people will try their best to go home
just for this "tuanyuan fan". This reunion dinner is held on Spring
Festival Eve where members of the family, near and far, get together for
celebration.
This custom is also called "surrounding the
hearth," from the custom in earlier times of eating dinner around the
family hearth. The dinner begins only after all of the family members
are present at the table. A table setting is placed for those unable to
come home for dinner on this day to symbolize their presence though far
away. Spring Festival Eve dinner is best eaten slowly, savoring the
flavor of each dish. The dishes are always rich and delicious. There is a
dish of fish is unnecessary. Eating fish has a special meaning. In
Chinese it means "niannianyouyu". Because fish in Chinese means "yu",
eating "yu" symbolize "Surplus Year after Year".
With the changes
of society and the improvement of the level of people妤规悞 life, there is a
new form of the Spring Festival Eve dinner. Once the reunion dinner was
held at family, now more and more people have this special dinner at
restaurant. It is reported that around 2 million people in Shanghai
enjoy their Spring Festival Eve dinners in restaurants every year since
2000.
Having the Spring Festival Eve dinner surrounding the table is the eternal custom during Spring Festival.
*Spring Festival CoupletsDuring the Spring Festival, all the doors are pasted with Spring
Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black
characters on red paper.
The Spring Couplet is composed of two
antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll
bearing an inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate.
The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first
line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve
of the Spring Festival, every household will paste on doors a spring
couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere
of the Festival.
At the beginning, the Spring Festival couplets
were called "taofu"(peachwood charms against evil) which were hung on
the gate on the lunar New Year妤规悞 Eve to ward off evils and ghosts. Later
the peachwood charms were replaced by red paper, on which auspicious
words written.
There is a legend about it. During the reign of
Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398) of the Ming Dynasty, "taofu" was
formally replaced by Spring Festival couplets, and Emperor Taizu of the
Ming wrote Spring Festival couplets in person. Since then, the custom
of sticking on couplets on doors before the lunar New Year has been
handed down generation by generation.
* Setting off Firecracker during the Spring FestivalSetting off firecracker during the Spring Festival, especially on lunar
New Year妤规悞 Eve, is an important custom. Why it is a necessary custom?
Spring
Festival also called "Guo Nian". The word "Guo" in Chinese means
"pass-over" and "observe". The word "Nian" has a special meaning, in the
ancient time; it was originally the name of a monster beast that
started to prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year.
There is a legend about "Nian".
"Nian", the monster with
antennae, was very rude and lived at the bottom of the sea. It went
ashore on lunar New Year妤规悞 Eve to devour people and animals. People were
so afraid of it that they fled to the mountains on every lunar New
Year妤规悞 Eve.
On one lunar New Year妤规悞 Eve, an old man with long
whiskers came into the village. He was begging for some food and a
place to stay overnight. At that time, the villagers were in a hurry
fleeing to the mountains to avoid being hurt by "Nian". The villagers
were busy running for their lives, so no one noticed the old man except
an old lady. "Climb the mountain, or 妤规彉ian妤?will devour you." She said
to the old man. The old man smiled, but he didn妤规悤 say any word. "Be
quick, in less than several hours 妤规彉ian妤?will come." The old lady added.
Still, the old man smiled. Then, he said, " If you let me stay at your
home for a night, I assure you of driving 妤规彉ian妤?out." "But闂呭棝顣? At last,
the old lady had no choice but to flee to the mountains, leaving the old
man in her house.
At midnight, "Nian" did come. It found
there was something different in one house and so walked around the
house to see whether there was anything unusual. There was a piece of
Chinese red paper on the door, and a flame indoors. Seeing that, "Nian"
trembled all over and cried in a strange voice. It glared at the house,
and then pounced on the house. As it was approaching the house, suddenly
some loud sound of firecrackers came out of the house. Again "Nian"
trembled, and it had no courage to approach any more. At that time, the
door opened. Indoors the old man who begged the old lady for her house
to stay overnight smiled at "Nian". He was wearing a Chinese red coat.
On seeing that, "Nian" ran away. In fact, "Nian" was afraid of red,
flame and firecracker.
From then on, people living in the
village knew how to drive "Nian" off. It is the reason why we Chinese
people like wearing red clothes and setting off firecracker on lunar New
Year妤规悞 Eve. It is an age-long custom.
*Dragon and Lion Dance
During the Spring Festival, various kinds of temple fairs are held to
celebrate this special festival. While people do dragon and lion dances,
perform yangge dance, and appreciate decorate lanterns to ring out the
old and ring in the new, see poverty off and welcome wealth, ward off
diseases and evils and pray for a good harvest and good luck in the
coming year.
People do dragon and lion dances to hold a
ceremonious meeting. It is a good way to celebrate the Spring Festival,
expressing their happiness in the New Year. Doing the Dragon and Lion
Dances are also Chinese folk art as well as a skill.
*Spring Festival Food
The food and snacks for the Spring Festival contain special auspicious significance and are different from place to place.
niangao(New
Year cake), which symbolizes having good luck in everything and getting
promotion year by year, is a must for every Chinese family on the lunar
New Year. However, in the north of China, the local people make
gaotuo(cooked wheaten food) and glutinous millet cakes for the festival;
in the south of China, shuimo niangao(New Year cake made from finely
ground glutinous rice flour); in southwest China, glutinous rice cakes;
and in Taiwan, red bean cakes.
Jiaozi(dumplings with meat and
vegetable stuffing) is traditional food for the people in north China.
In the shape of shoe-shape gold ingot, Jiaozi has an auspicious meaning
of "bringing in money and treasure". On New Year妤规悞 Eve, the whole family
will sit together to make Jiaozi and celebrate the Spring Festival. The
tradition of having Jiaozi is very important during the Spring
Festival.