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New Year's in China is a time of gratitude and family togetherness. New Year's Eve is spent by bidding farewell to the old year and thanking one's ancestors and the gods for their blessing and protection. Children that have left their hometown return on this day to share New Year's Eve Dinner with their families, and for those unable to make the journey, a table setting is placed to symbolize their presence in spirit if not in body. At the end of dinner, the parents and older generation give New Year's Money to the children, who have been waiting with growing anticipation for this moment to arrive. Finally, to watch the old year out and bring in the new year families stay up all night until wee hours of New Year's Day. With the arrival of New Year's Day, life is renewed and the new year begins amidst a blast of firecrackers. The Chinese begin the day by worshipping their ancestors. The streets become filled with people making New Year's visits to friends and relatives and with the lively display of dragon dancing, tiger dancing and other folk activities. There are several taboos to be followed in order to insure the arrival of luck and wealth in the new year. Floors may not be swept and garbage may not be disposed of for fear of casting riches out the door; cussing and quarreling is to be avoided at all costs; and anyone who breaks a dish on this day must quickly say "Peace for all time" to avoid incurring misfortune. On the second day of the new year, married women return to their birth home to visit family; on the fourth day, the gods return to the world of the living; and on the fifth day, many new stores and businesses open their doors for the first time due to the good luck associated with the day. The festive air of celebration continues in this manner all the way up to the Lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the new year before slowly getting back to normal life again. Chinese New Year customary festivities and traditions have been passed down for millennia, and they still retain tremendous significance today. (To read fun New Year's stories written by children, visit: http://www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/MCC/ and search on "Lunar New Year"; other great Chinese New Year's information is at: http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/html_e/moon.htm) You are probably wondering why the Chinese celebrate New Year's at a different time each year. It's because they follow the Lunar Calendar. Before the solar calendar was developed in the West, Western cultures also followed a lunar calendar. The lunar calendar is based on the movement of the moon. A month is calculated as the time between two full moons. Each month starts on the day of the new moon. This measurement, called a lunar month, results in a lunar year of 354 days, which is 11 days shorter than a solar year. The lunar calendar was used to determine times of planting, harvesting and festival occasions, but it eventually failed to agree with the seasons. A month had to be occasionally added to keep the months in line with the seasons. It started to become very confusing. So, in 45 BC Julius Caesar decided to use a solar calendar. The Julian Calendar established the order of the months and the days of the week as they exist in calendars today. (The only change since Roman times is the deletion of leap days from century year's not divisible by 400 — so 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 will be. This change was made by Pope Gregory in 1582.) It also fixed the normal year at 365 days, and the leap year, every fourth year at 366 days, with the extra day in February. This calendar is now called the Western (or Gregorian) Calendar. Today, the people in China use the Western calendar for most practical matters of daily life, but the lunar calendar is still used for determining seasonal holidays. (To learn more about the history of calendars, visit: http://www.mandarintools.com/) The Chinese lunar calendar also has twelve signs, each sign aligned with a specific year. It's kind of like a Chinese horoscope. The twelve signs include a Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar. If you were born in 1989, you are a Snake. Snake's lucky month is May. |
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