January Holidays - Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival
The Chinese New Year is now popularly known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the Beginning of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coordination with the changes of Nature). Its origin is too old to be traced. Several explanations are hanging around. All agree, however, that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese solely means "year", was originally the name of a monster beast that started to prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year (Do not lose track here: we are talking about the new year in terms of the Chinese calendar).
One legend goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would swallow a great many people with one bite. People were very scared. One day, an old man came to their rescue, offering to subdue Nian. To Nian he said, "I hear say that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts of prey on earth instead of people who are by no means of your worthy opponents?" So, swallow it did many of the beasts of prey on earth that also harassed people and their domestic animals from time to time.
After that, the old man disappeared riding the beast Nian. He turned out to be an immortal god. Now that Nian is gone and other beasts of prey are also scared into forests, people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare away Nian in case it sneaked back again, because red is the color the beast feared the most.
From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which may mean "Survive the Nian" becomes today "Celebrate the (New) Year" as the word "guo" in Chinese having both the meaning of "pass-over" and"observe". The custom of putting up red paper and firing fire-crackers to scare away Nian should it have a chance to run loose is still around. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, except that they feel the color and the sound add to the excitement of the celebration.
Traditions of Chinese New Year
Even though the climax of the Chinese New Year, Nian, lasts only two or three days including the New Year's Eve, the New Year season extends from the mid-twelfth month of the previous year to the middle of the first month of the new year. A month from the New Year, it is a good time for business. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration material, food and clothing. Transportation department, railroad in particular, is nervously waiting for the onslaught of swarms of travellers who take their days off around the New Year to rush back home for a family reunion from all parts of the country.
Days before the New Year, every family is busy giving its house a thorough cleaning, hoping to sweep away all the ill-fortune there may have been in the family to make way for the wishful in-coming good luck. People also give their doors and window-panes a new paint, usually in red color. They decorate the doors and windows with paper-cuts and couplets with the very popular theme of "happiness", "wealth", "longevity" and "satisfactory marriage with more children". Paintings of the same theme are put up in the house on top of the newly mounted wall paper. In the old days, various kinds of food are tributed at the Alta of ancestors.
The Eve of the New Year is very carefully observed. Supper is a feast, with all members coming together. One of the most popular course is jiaozi, dumplings boiled in water. "Jiaozi" in Chinese literally mean "sleep together and have sons", a long-lost good wish for a family. After dinner, it is time for the whole family to sit up for the night while having fun playing cards or board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the occasion. Every light is supposed to be kept on the whole night. At midnight, the whole sky will be lit up by fireworks and firecrackers make everywhere seem like a war zone. People's excitement reach its zenith.
Very early the next morning, children greet their parents and receive their presents in terms of cash wrapped up in red paper packages from them. Then, the family start out to say greetings from door to door, first their relatives and then their neighbors. It is a great time for reconciliation. Old grudges are very easily cast away during the greetings. The air is permeated with warmth and friendliness. During and several days following the New Year's day, people are visiting each other, with a great deal of exchange of gifts. The New Year atmosphere is brought to an anti-climax fifteen days away where the Festival of Lanterns sets in. It is an occasion of lantern shows and folk dances everywhere. One typical food is the Tang Yuan, another kind of dumplings made of sweet rice rolled into balls and stuffed with either sweet or spicy fillings.
The Lantern Festival marks the end of the New Year season and afterwards life becomes daily routines once again. This description is based upon the recollection of my own experience. Customs of observing the New Year vary from place to place, considering that China is a big country not only geographically, but also demographically and ethnically. Yet, the spirit underlying the diverse celebrations of the Chinese New Year is the same: a sincere wish of peace and happiness for the family members and friends.
When is Chinese New Year?
It may sound weird, but it is true. Except for a very few number of people who can keep track of when the Chinese New Year should be, the majority of the Chinese today have to rely on a typical Chinese calendar to tell it. Therefore, you cannot talk of the Chinese New Year without mentioning the Chinese calendar at first.
A Chinese calendar consists of both the Gregorian and a lunar-solar calendrical systems, with the latter dividing a year into twelve month each of which is in turn equally divided into thirty-nine and a half days. The well-coordinated dual system calendar reflects the Chinese ingenuity.
Besides the two calendrical systems, a Chinese calendar will not be complete without a twenty-four solar terms closely related to the changes of Nature -- a very useful tool for farmers, providing information on the proper time for planting and harvesting.
The Twenty Four Terms
The first fifteen days of the Chinese lunar month makes the first term, namely:
Beginning of Spring usually starting from the fourth or fifth of February. And the first day is the Chinese New Year's Day or the onset of the Spring Festival. Incidentally, the New Year's Day of 1995 is January 31st.
The second fifteen days are named: Rain Water from the ninetieth or twentieth of February, a time when rainy seasons are setting in.
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In order come the following terms:
- Waking of Insects: from the fifth or sixth of March, as the earth awakes from hibernation;
- Spring Equinox: from the twentieth or twenty-first of March;
- Pure Brightness: from the fourth or fifth of April;
- Grain Rain: from the twentieth or twenty-first of April;
- Beginning of Summer: from the fifth or sixth of May;
- Grain Full: from the twentieth or twenty-first of May;
- Grain in Ear: from the fifth or sixth of June;
- Summer Solstice: from the twenty-first or second of June;
- Slight Heat: from the sixth or seventh of July;
- Great Heat: from the twenty-second or third of July;
- Beginning of Autumn: from the seventh or eighth of August;
- Limit of Heat: from the twenty-third or fourth of August;
- White Dew: from the seventh or eighth of September;
- Autumnal Equinox: from the twenty-third or fourth of September;
- Cold Dew: from the eighth or ninth of October;
- Frost's Descent: from the twentieth-three or fourth of October;
- Beginning of Winter: from the seventh or eighth of November;
- Slight Snow: from the twenty-second or third of November;
- Great Snow: from the seventh or eighth of December;
- Winter Solstice: from the twenty-second or third of December;
- Slight Cold: from the fifth or sixth of January; and lastly
- Great Cold: from the twentieth or twenty-first of January which brings the 24-term cycle to an end.
On the Chinese Calendar, you will also find terminology like Tian Gan and Di Zhi (Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch), a peculiar Chinese way of marking the years in a sixty-year cycle. There is also a system that marks the years in a twelve-year cycle, naming each of them after an animal such as Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar. See what animal your year is associated with and read about your character.
Facts about Chinese New Year
On the Chinese Year's Day, people will go out and visit their friends and say "Gong Xi Fa Cai" in Mandarin or "Gueng Huei Fa Zuai" in Cantonese, which means "Congratulations! You will be rich." The reason that people visit their friends is because the story I mentioned previously. People wanted to make sure that their friends made it and the beast "Year" didn't get them.
During the Chinese New Year time, especially before the shops open for the new year, which usually is the fourth or fifth day of the new year, there are several thing that you should do or not do. After the dinner at the Chinese New Year's Eve, you are not supposed to sweep anything out. The key word here is sweep out. If you have to sweep, sweep things inward your house. So you are not sweeping your luck away. Also, you can't take the trash out on the first day of the New Year. If you break some glass or mug, you have to say "Suei Suei Pien An", which means "peace every year," because "to break" sounds like one of the ways to say the word "Year."
We usually have sweet rice cake. It's made of sweet rice with sugar, sometimes red beans, date or sesame seeds. We also buy some "Fa Gao," which is kind of pound cake but not as soft and puffy. But we don't eat it anymore because it doesn't taste good. We have it just for the meaning of it. The word "cake" sounds like the word "high." The meaning of the cake is that you have the cake and you'll be more and more wealthy, or your position will get higher and higher.
Children will go out and play firecrackers while the adults will stay at home to play mahjong which is a form of gambling game.
More about Chinese New Year
Celebrated on the first day of the Chinese Lunar Calendar, this is the most important annual festival for the Chinese community. Each year is named after one of the 12 animals according to the Chinese Zodiac. Houses are cleaned and decorated to prepare for the big day. Debts are settled, prayers and offerings are made. New clothes are bought and plenty of food is prepared.
Family members from far come back for the gathering. New Year cards are sent between family and friends and reunion dinner for the family is held on the eve of the new year. Bad language and unpleasant topics are discouraged.
There are lion dances and small fireworks. Red paper showing Chinese characters of prosperity and wealth are pasted either in front or inside the house. Ang-Pow or red packet containing money is given out to children and elderly. Open house is practiced for visiting relatives and friends with various ethnic races. The New Year lasts for fifteen days where the concentration is on the first three days. The celebration ends with the Chap Goh Mei on the fifteenth day.
The most vibrant and colourful festival in the Chinese calendar is the Lunar New Year, when the whole Chinatown is ablaze with lights from ceremonial red lanterns, and the streets are bedecked with traditional decorations mainly in red, the colour of good luck. The celebration starts with family reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, followed by open-house over the next few days. It is a time for forgiveness and for settling old debts. The festival lasts for 15 days and concludes with a big celebration called Chap Goh Mei.
Fire Cracker and the Chinese New Year
Happy New Year! According to the Chinese calendar, this year will mark the year 4696 since the time of the Yellow Emperor in ancient China. This year the Chinese New Year will fall on January 28, 1998. It will be the Year of the Tiger.
In China as well as in Chinese communities in the west, the Chinese New Year is always associated with fire crackers. Chinatowns in the US are no exception. Legend has it that by setting off fire crackers, "evil energy" will be driven away, and peace and good fortune can be attained. Below is a version of a story about how the fire cracker started being used as a New Year's tradition:
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago in ancient China, there lived a monster who lived in the mountains of a bamboo forest. This monster had the shape of a human, but only had one leg. Even though it only had one leg, it was stronger, faster, and more agile than any of the villagers. It stayed in the deep forest during the year. Towards the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, it would come out for food. When it did, it destroyed the villages, injured the villagers, and took away the live stock and grain stored for the winter. This left the villagers insufficient food for the winter and caused many hardships. The villagers, on numerous occasions, attempted to capture the monster but were unsuccessful. Just as everyone was beginning to give up hope, a strange event happened.
One year, shortly after the New Year, the monster did not attack. The villagers were happy and thought that the monster might have left the area. They began to prepare for a New Year celebration. Because there was an abundance of bamboo sticks in the mountains, the villagers used them as the primary source of fuel for cooking and for keeping warm.
As everyone was putting more bamboo sticks in the fire for the celebration, the monster seemingly jumped out of the night from nowhere. As everyone was scared and shocked by the sudden appearance of the monster, the bamboo sticks began to crackle. The expansion of air in between the bamboo joints made a series of loud crackling sounds along with the blazing fire. When the monster saw this strange occurrence, it was scared senseless and ran back to the forest.
From that time forward, during the New Year, the villagers always burned bamboo sticks to make the crackling sound to keep the monster away and to ask for a peaceful year.
Today, burning bamboo sticks has been replaced by fire crackers made in the shape of bamboo sticks. However, the Chinese term baozhu, meaning exploding bamboo stick, is still used to refer to fire crackers.
Traditional New Year's 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.
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.
Chinese New Year's Decorations
Prior to New Year Day, Chinese families decorate their living rooms with vases of pretty blossoms, platters of oranges and tangerines and a candy tray with eight varieties of dried sweet fruit. On walls and doors are poetic couplets, happy wishes written on red paper. These messages sound better than the typical fortune cookie messages. For instance, "May you enjoy continuous good health" and "May the Star of Happiness, the Star of Wealth and the Star of Longevity shine on you" are especially positive couplets.
Plants and Flowers: Every traditional Chinese household should also have live blooming plants to symbolize rebirth and new growth. Flowers are believed to be symbolic of wealth and high positions in one’s career. Lucky is the home with a plant that blooms on New Year’s Day, for that foretells a year of prosperity. In more elaborate settings, plum blossoms just starting to bloom are arranged with bamboo and pine sprigs, the grouping symbolizing friends - the plum blossom also signifies reliability and perseverance; the bamboo is known for its compatibility, its utility and its flexible stems for furniture and other articles; the evergreen pine evokes longevity and steadiness. Other highly prized flowers are the pussy willow, azalea, peony and water lily or narcissus.
The Chinese firmly believe that without flowers, there would be no formation of any fruits. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to have flowers and floral decorations.
They are the emblems of reawakening of nature, they are also intimately connected with superstition and with the wish for happiness during the ensuing year.
Oranges and Tangerines: 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.
Candy Tray: The candy tray arranged in either a circle or octagon is called "The Tray of Togetherness" and has a dazzling array of candy to start the New Year sweetly. After taking several pieces of candy from the tray, adults places a red envelope (lai see) on the center compartment of the tray. Each item represents some kind of good fortune.
- Candied melon - growth and good health
- Red melon seed - dyed red to symbolize joy, happiness, truth and sincerity
- Lychee nut - strong family relationships
- Cumquat - prosperity (gold)
- Coconut - togetherness
- Peanuts - long life
- Longnan - many good sons
- Lotus seed - many children
Chinese Lantern Festival: beautiful lanterns and sweet dumplings
This holiday is celebrated approximately 15 days after the start of the Chinese New Year. Popularly referred to as Chinese Valentine's Day
Chinese Lantern Festival is very old.There are many wonderful stories about how the Lantern Festival first began. One story is that in ancient times, people would go in search of spirits with burning sticks. They thought the spirits could be seen during a full moon. Another is about a lonely young girl, in Han times, who tricked an emperor into having a wonderful festival, so she could visit with her family! The emperor had such a good time, he decided to make this festival an annual event!
By T'ang times, many families simply set aside one evening, during the first full moon after the new year,to honor the moon. They would sit outside, and gaze up, in awe and delight.
Today, people wear white in honor of the moon, lanterns are hung in the malls and markets, and children carry paper lanterns to school, to light their way to a bright and happy future.
The Lantern Festival or Yuanxiao Jie is a traditional Chinese festival, which is on the 15th of the first month of the Chinese New Year. This Festival marks the end of the celebrations of the New Year.
Chinese started to celebrate the Lantern Festival from the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 221 AD). Like most other Chinese festivals, there is also a story behind the Festival . It is also believed that the Festival has Taoist origins.
This is a festival for people having fun. On the night of the Festival, people go on streets with a variety of lanterns under the full moon, watching lions or dragon dancing, playing Chinese riddles (in Chinese) and games, and lighting up firecrackers. There is really a lot of fun for the young and the old. The Festival is not well celebrated in the US, though you may find celebrations in some Chinese communities, such as Hsi Lai Temple, Hacienda Heights, California.
Yuanxiao is the special food for the Lantern Festival. It is believed that Yuanxiao is named after a palace maid, Yuanxiao, of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty. Yuanxiao is a kind of sweet dumpling, which is made with sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing. And the Festival is named after the famous dumpling. Yuanxiao is sticky, sweet and round in shape, symbolizing family unity, completeness and happiness.
You can find Yuanxiao in oriental food stores. If you enjoy cooking, here is a recipe of Yuanxiao for you.
Yanxiao Recipe
Ingredients:
- 4 1/2 cups (500 g) sticky rice flour
- butter 7 oz (200 g)
- black sesame powder 7 oz (200 g)
- sugar 8 oz (250 g)
- 1 tsp wine
Instructions:
- Mix the butter with sesame powder, sugar and wine together. You need to heat a little bit. Make small balls about 0.3-0.4 oz (10 g) each.
- Take 1/2 cup of sticky rice flour. Add water into the flour and make a flatten dough. Cook it in boiled water and take out until done. Let it cool down. Then put it in the rest of the sticky rice flour. Add water and knead until the dough is smooth.
- Make the dough into small pieces about 0.3-0.4 oz (10 g) each. Make it like a ball using hands first and then make a hole in the ball like a snail. Put the sesame ball into it and close it up. Cook them in boiled water. Make sure to keep stirring in one direction while cooking. When they float on the water, continue to boil for about one minute using less heat.