Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, is the grandest and the most important annual event for Chinese people. Traditionally, it will be celebrated for sixteen days, lasting from New Year's Eve (chuxi, 除夕) to the Lantern Festival （Yuanxiaojie, 元宵节). From the third day to the seventh day of the first lunar month, Chinese visit relatives and friends.Celebarations for Spring Festival start seven days before the New Year's Eve or even earlier.
Pre-Chinese New Year Preparations (February 8–14, 2018)
Laba Festival
Some Chinese start to celebrate and prepare for New Year as early as month 12 day 8 of the lunar calendar. This is a festival called Laba ( 腊八 Làbā /laa-baa/ '12th lunar month' + '8'). It falls on January 24 in 2018.
Cleaning the House
People clean their houses before Chinese New Year.
From the 23rd of the 12th lunar month (February 8, 2018), Chinese people carry out a thorough cleaning of their houses. The cleaning is called "sweeping the dust", and represents a wish to put away old things, bid farewell to the old year, and welcome the New Year.
New Year Shopping
People buy New Year food and snacks, New Year decorations, and clothes for New Year before New Year’s Eve. Chinese New Year, like Christmas in China, is a shopping boom time. Chinese people may be thrifty most of the time, but they seem quite generous in their spending during the traditional festivals. For example, they will buy new clothes for the festival, whether they need them or not. There are New Year street markets on the days before the festival.
New Year's Eve Activities (February 15, 2018)
Putting Up New Year Decorations
Although some people decorate their houses several days before the festival, most people do it on New Year's Eve. Houses are decorated with red lanterns, red couplets, New Year paintings, and red lanterns. 2018 is a year of the Dog, so dog images will appear on decorations. People may decorate their houses with some or all of the following things:
Affixing Door God Images
Pasting a door god image on the door is an important custom among Chinese people during Spring Festival. In the beginning door gods were made of peach wood carved into the figure of a man, hanging by the door. Later people pasted printed images on doors.
People paste door gods on doors as a prayer for blessings, longevity, health, and peace. Two door gods on double doors are thought to keep evil spirits from entering. The door gods symbolize righteousness and power in China, therefore Chinese door gods are always scowling, holding various weapons, and ready to fight with evil spirits.
Putting up Spring Couplets
Spring couplets or New Year couplets (Chunlian,春联) are paired phrases, typically of seven Chinese characters each, written on red paper in black ink, and pasted one each side of a door frame.
Sometimes a phrase of four or five characters is affixed to the top of the door frame as well. New Year couplets are filled with best wishes. Some people write the couplets themselves, but most people buy them (ready printed) from the market. Pasting spring couplets is thought to keep evil away.
Putting Up New Year Paintings
It is a custom to paste paper cutouts on windows during the Chinese New Year.New Year paintings carrying best wishes are put up to decorate houses, creating a happy and prosperous Spring Festival atmosphere.
The subjects of New Year paintings are often flowers and birds, plump boys and Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy and fertility), golden roosters, oxen, ripe fruit and treasure, or other legends and historical stories, showing desires for bountiful harvests and a happy life.
"The Four Homelands of the New Year Painting" are New-Year-Painting Village in Mianzhu, Sichuan Province; Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin, and Weifang in Shandong.
Enjoying a Reunion Dinner
The New Year's Eve Feast is a "must do" dinner with all family members reuniting. Chinese try very hard to make this family event, often traveling long distances. This is the main reason for the huge travel stress throughout China.
People from north and south China eat different foods on this special occasion, and many New Year foods are symbolic. In northern China a traditional dish for the feast is jiaozi (dumplings). They are shaped like old Chinese ingots, symbolizing wealth. Southern Chinese eat niangao (sticky rice cake) on this special day, because niangao sounds like "yearly higher", symbolizing improvement.
Watching New Year Gala
file photo
It has become a China custom for many families to watch the CCTV New Year Gala while having their dinner. The Gala starts at 8pm and ends at midnight when the New Year arrives, featuring traditional, folk, and pop performances from China's best singers, dancers, and acrobats.
Giving Red Envelopes (Lucky Money) to Kids
Parents usually give their children red envelopes after the reunion dinner, wishing them health, growth, and good studies in the coming year. Red envelopes always have money in. Money in red envelopes is believed to bring good luck, as red is China's lucky color, so it's called lucky money.
Staying up Late
This custom is called shousui (守岁‘to keep watch over the year’). Chinese stayed up all night in the past, but now most stay up only till the midnight firecrackers and fireworks die down.
Listening to a New Year Bell
A bell is a traditional symbol of Chinese New Year, and Chinese believe that ringing a large bell can drive all bad luck away and bring good fortune. Chinese people like to go to large squares or temples where there are huge bells rung on New Year's Eve at midnight. In recent years, people have begun to go to mountain temples to wait for the first ringing of a bell in the new year.
Chinese New Year's Day (February 16, 2018)
Chinese people believe what they do on the first day of the lunar year affects their luck in that year.
Setting off Firecrackers and Fireworks
The moment New Year arrives there is a cacophony of fireworks and firecrackers all around. Because of the danger and the noise disturbance they cause, the government has banned this practice in many major cities. But lighting firecrackers is one of the most important customs of the Chinese New Year celebration; it is still seen in most of the countries.
Offering Sacrifices to Ancestors
A popular custom since ancient times, ancestor worship varies widely across China — from sweeping tombs in the wild to worshiping ancestors in ancestral halls or temples. Many (especially rural) people offer sacrifices to their ancestors in the main hall of the house, where an ancestor altar is displayed.
Putting on New Clothes and Extending New Year Greetings
On the first day of the New Year, Chinese put on new clothes, and say "gongxi" (恭喜 literally ‘respectful joy’, it means ‘greetings’ or ‘best wishes’), and wish each other good luck and happiness in the New Year. In recent years, a new way to do New Year greetings has appeared, especially among the young. Busy people who don't have time to visit their friends or relatives will send a New Year card, a WeChat red envelope or a text message instead.
Watching Lion and Dragon Dances
Lion dances and dragon dances might be seen too on New Year's Day. Once very popular in China, they are reappearing in many places. They are more popular in Hong Kong and Macau.
The Second Day of the First Lunar Month(February 17, 2018)
Traditionally a married daughter visits the house of her parents on the second day of Chinese New Year.
The Third to Seventh Day of the First Lunar Month (February 18 to 22, 2018)
From the third day to the seventh day of the first lunar month, Chinese visit relatives and friends.
On the third day, some Chinese go to visit the tombs of their clan or relatives, but some think being outside on the third day is inauspicious because evil spirits roam around.
The first house sweep of the new year: Chinese don't clean the house the first two days of the New Year, as sweeping then is believed to sweep away the good luck accrued by the mess of firecrackers, red paper, wrappers, and other evidence of the celebrations on the floor.
The Eighth Day of the First Lunar Month (February 23, 2018)
People normally return to work by the eighth day. As eight is the luckiest number in China, most businesses prefer to reopen on New Year day 8.
Lantern Festival, the Fifteenth Day of the First Lunar Month (March 2, 2018)
The fifteenth day of the New Year is the Lantern Festival (元宵节 Yuánxiāo Jié /ywen-sshyaou jyeah/). It is the traditional end of the Spring Festival celebrations. People send aloft glowing lanterns into the sky while others let floating lanterns go on the sea, on rivers, or set them adrift in lakes.
Parts of the English materials are from chinahiglight.com.
