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CHINA
Chinese New Year
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Chinese
New Year
When
Is the Chinese New Year
The
Origin of Chinese New Year
Traditions
of the Chinese New Year
When
Is the Chinese New Year
It may
sound wierd, 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 Febrary.
-
The first
day is the Chinese New Year's Day or the onset of the Spring Festival.
The second
fifteen days are named:
-
Rain Water:
from the nineteeth or twentieth of Febrary, when rainy seasons are setting
in.
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 nineth 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; the end
of the 24-term cycle.
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.
The
Origin of Chinese New Year
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 coodination 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 (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. T o 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, swollow it did many of the beasts of prey on earth that also harrassed
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 travelers who take
their days off around the New Year to rush back home for a family renunion
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 ocassion.
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. 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.
Links
to More Information
Chinese
New Year
Comparison
of Chinese and Western Calendars
Chinese
Calendar
Chinese
Calendar Converter
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