Chinese New Year

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Chinese New Year
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China

• Capital City Beijing
• Main Language Mandarin Chinese
• Currency Yan
• Area 3,696,032 square miles
• Population 1,321,851,888
• Main Religions Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism

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Background

• Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday
  celebrated among Chinese people.
• It is often called the Spring Festival because it
  signals the beginning of spring.
• It is a time when families and friends get
  together to say goodbye to the old and welcome
  the new.
• It originally lasted four weeks, but now only
  lasts for 3-5 days.

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Origin

• The exact origin is too old to be traced, but
  many explanations still exist.

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One idea is that the holiday originated when a
beast named Nian (which means year in Chinese)
came out the night before the new year and
started to prey on the people in the villages.
The people were very frightened by this monster.
A brave old man went up to the beast and asked
that instead of eating the people that he eat the
beasts that frightened the people. Nian agreed
and the old man rode off on his back. Before he
left, he told the people to put up red paper
decorations on their windows and doors at the
beginning of each new year to scare away the
horrible beast.
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Celebrated

• Very few people know when this holiday is
  celebrated without looking at a traditional
  Chinese calendar because it never falls on the
  same day.
• The ancient Chinese used a lunar calendar.
• Today we use a solar calendar.

• On a lunar calendar, the new year begins the
  first night of the new moon after the sun enters
  Aquarius.
• This date is anywhere between January 20 and
  February 19 on the solar calendar.

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Chinese Years

• Chinese years are grouped in sets of 12 with each
  year being represented by an animal (zodiac
  sign).
• It is said that a person displays the
  characteristics of the animal of the year in
  which they were born.

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Find Out About Your Sign

• http//www.chinavoc.com/zodiac/

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Videos

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vXkDovsTPi3k
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v1egkt16wG8E

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Traditions

• The Chinese believe that as they enter a new year
  they should put behind them all things of the
  past.
• They clean their houses.
• Pay off debits

• Purchase new clothes
• Get haircuts
• Paint their doors and window panes

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Decorations

• Flowers and paper decorations adorn homes with
  wishes of luck, prosperity, happiness, good
  fortune, wealth, and longevity.
• Decorations include pictures of the incoming
  Zodiac animal.

• Red and gold are popular colors.
• Red represents power, happiness, vitality, and
  scares away the beasts.
• Gold represents wealth and good fortune.

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Gift Giving

• One very important tradition of the New Year is
  exchanging gifts.

One important tradition of the Chinese New Year
is exchanging gifts. A traditional gift that is
given is a small red envelope filled with lucky
money. The envelopes symbolize the giving of
good fortune.
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Bamboo stems filled with gunpowder that were
burnt to create small explosions were once used
in ancient China to drive away evil spirits. In
modern times, this method has eventually evolved
into the use of firecrackers during the festive
season. Firecrackers are usually strung on a long
fused string so it can be hung down. Each
firecracker is rolled up in red papers, as red is
auspicious, with gunpowders in its core. Once
ignited, the firecracker lets out a loud popping
noise and as they are usually strung together by
the hundreds, the firecrackers are known for its
deafening explosions that it is thought to scare
away evil spirits. The lighting of firecrackers
also signifies a joyous occasion and has become
an integral aspect of Chinese New Year
celebrations.
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Good Luck

• Opening windows and/or doors is considered to
  bring in the good luck of the new year.
• Switching on the lights for the night is
  considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and
  spirits of misfortune that may compromise the
  luck and fortune of the new year.
• Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a "sweet"
  year.
• It is important to have the house completely
  clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day
  for good luck in the coming year. (however, as
  explained below, cleaning the house after New
  Year's Day is frowned upon)
• Some believe that what happens on the first day
  of the new year reflects the rest of the year to
  come. Asians will often gamble at the beginning
  of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.
• Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought
  before the new year, because it means to step on
  the people who gossip about you.
• The night before the new year, bathe yourself in
  pomelo leaves and some say that you will be
  healthy for the rest of the new year.

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Bad Luck

• Buying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck
  amongst some Chinese. The word "shoes" is a
  homophone for the word for "rough" in Cantonese,
  or "evil" in Mandarin.
• Buying a pair of pants is considered bad luck.
  The word "pants"(kù) is a homophone for the word
  for "bitter"(ku) in Cantonese. (Although some
  perceive it to be positive, as the word
  'pants'(fu) in Cantonese is also a homophone for
  the word for "wealth".)
• Washing your hair is also considered to be
  washing away one's own luck (although modern
  hygienic concerns take precedence over this
  tradition)
• Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the
  first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune
  and luck for the new year.
• Talking about death is inappropriate for the
  first few days of Chinese New Year, as it is
  considered inauspicious as well.
• Buying books is bad luck because the word for
  "book" is a homonym to the word "lose".
• Avoid clothes in black and white, as black is a
  symbol of bad luck, and white is a traditional
  funeral color.

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15 Days of Celebration

• 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.
• 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 third and fourth days are for the
  sons-in-laws to pay respect to their
  parents-in-law.
• 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.

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• On the sixth to the 10th day, the Chinese visit
  their relatives and friends freely. They also
  visit the temples to pray for good fortune and
  health.
• The seventh day of the New Year is the day for
  farmers to display their produce. These farmers
  make a drink from seven types of vegetables to
  celebrate the occasion. The seventh day is also
  considered the birthday of human beings. Noodles
  are eaten to promote longevity and raw fish for
  success.

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• 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 is to make offerings to the Jade
  Emperor.
• The 10th through the 12th are days that friends
  and relatives should be invited for dinner.
• After so much rich food, on the 13th day you
  should have simple rice congee and mustard greens
  (choi sum) to cleanse the system.
• The 14th day should be for preparations to
  celebrate the Lantern Festival which is to be
  held on the 15th night.

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Foods

• Probably more food is consumed during the New
  Year celebrations than any other time of the
  year. Vast amounts of traditional food is
  prepared for family and friends, as well as those
  close to us who have died.
• On New Year's Day, the Chinese family will eat a
  vegetarian dish called jai. Although the various
  ingredients in jai are root vegetables or fibrous
  vegetables, many people attribute various
  superstitious aspects to them
• Lotus seed - signify having many male offspring
  Ginkgo nut - represents silver ingots Black
  moss seaweed - is a homonym for exceeding in
  wealth Dried bean curd is another homonym for
  fulfillment of wealth and happiness Bamboo
  shoots - is a term which sounds like "wishing
  that everything would be well" Fresh bean curd
  or tofu is not included as it is white and
  unlucky for New Year as the color signifies death
  and misfortune.

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• Other foods include a whole fish, to represent
  togetherness and abundance, and a chicken for
  prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a
  head, tail and feet to symbolize completeness.
  Noodles should be uncut, as they represent long
  life. In south China, the favorite and most
  typical dishes were nian gao, sweet steamed
  glutinous rice pudding and zong zi (glutinous
  rice wrapped up in reed leaves), another popular
  delicacy. In the north, steamed-wheat bread (man
  tou) and small meat dumplings were the preferred
  food. The tremendous amount of food prepared at
  this time was meant to symbolize abundance and
  wealth for the household.

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The Fortune Cookie is a crisp cookie made from
flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, and milk which is
baked around a fortune, a piece of paper with
words of faux wisdom or vague prophecy.
Throughout the western world, it is usually
served with Chinese food in Chinese-American
restaurants as a dessert. The message inside may
also include a list of lucky numbers (used by
some as lottery numbers) and a Chinese phrase
with translation. Fortune cookies in their
current form were first served in California by
immigrants who based the cookie on a traditional
Japanese cracker. The cookies are little-known in
mainland China.
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FYI

• The U.S. Powerball lottery drawing of the March
  30, 2005 game produced an unprecedented 110
  second-place winners, all of whom picked five
  numbers correctly with no powerball number. The
  total came out to 19.4 million in unexpected
  payouts. 89 tickets won 100,000, but 21
  additional tickets won 500,000 due to the Power
  Play multiplier option.
• Powerball officials initially suspected fraud,
  but it turned out that all the winners received
  their numbers from fortune cookies made by Wonton
  Food Inc., a fortune cookie factory in Long
  Island City, Queens, New York. Apparently, number
  combinations printed on fortunes are reused in
  thousands of cookies per day. The five winning
  numbers were 22, 28, 32, 33, and 39. The sixth
  number in the fortune, 40, did not match the
  powerball number, 42.