Chinese Spring Festival

• The origin of this festival

The origin of the Spring Festival now is too old to be traced. It is widely believed that the word ‘Nian’(in Chinese means ‘year’), was first the name of a monster beast that started to prey on human being at the night before the beginning of a new year. It had a very big mouth that would swallow many people with one bite. People were very scared. One day, an old man came to their rescue, offering to subdue ‘Nian’. He said to ‘Nian’ that ‘I hear that you are quite capable, but can you swallow other beasts on earth instead of people who are by no means of your worthy opponents?’ Hence, ‘Nian’ did swallow 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 who turned out to be an immoral fairy disappeared riding the beast ‘Nian’. Now that ‘Nian’ had gone and other beasts of prey are scared off into the forests, people began to enjoy their life in peace and happiness. 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 that the beast feared 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’s ‘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 firecrackers to scare away ‘Nian’ had been well preserved.

• Two features of  this festival

Equal to Christmas of the West in significance, the Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China. Two features distinguish it from the other festivals. One is seeing off the old year and greeting the new. The other is family reunion.

Two weeks before the festival the whole country is permeated with a holiday atmosphere. On the 8th day of the twelfth lunar month, many families will make the Laba Congee, a kind of congee made from more than eight treasures, including the glutinous rice, lotus seed, beans, gingko, millet and so on. Shops and streets are beautifully decorated and every household is busy at shopping and preparing for the festival. In the past, all families would make a throughout house cleaning, settling accounts and clearing off debts, by which to pass the year.

• Celebration activities on Chinese New Year’s Eve

After dinner, people sit together before the TV to watch the New Year’s program and chat with each other. About ten minutes before the ringing of the New Year’s bell, people let out the fireworks to welcome back the Kitchen God from the Heaven, who is in charge of the fortune and misfortune of the household he dwells.

A new beginning on New Year’s Day

Some of the customs based on superstitions are quite interesting. For example, on New Year’s Day, people will not sweep the floor, do washing or dump their garbage out of the house, lest these would do away with their fortune. On the Lunar New Year’s Eve, people like to stick the Chinese character ‘Happiness’ upside down on doors or walls, because ‘upside down’ in Chinese is a homophone of ‘coming’ or ‘arriving’.

Pasting couplets on the doors

The custom of pasting couplets on the doors has a long history. In the ancient times, people hung short branches of peach tree on the doors or at the front gates for the purpose of driving away the evil things. Later they became peach wood boards with some Chinese characters written on them. With the invention of paper, on each of which was written a verse line to welcome the New Year to express wishes for happiness and good fortune. During the long time development, spring couplets have become a special form of literature with their own characteristic.

What to do in this New Year period

On the first three days of the festival, people will visit their close relatives and best friends, exchanging greetings and presents, which is known as the ‘New Year’s Visit’. The young generation are given the red envelop from their elder generation. The Spring Festival carnivals take place during this period. There are performances of dragon dancing, lion dancing and recreational parades in the street by some troupes.

The fifth day is known as ‘Po Woo’. On this day people stay home to welcome the God of Wealth. No one visits relatives and friends because it will bring both parts bad luck. From the sixth day to the tenth day, people either go out the visit their relatives or friends or go to the temples to pray for good fortune and health in the coming year. In addition, the seventh day is the day for farmers to display their agricultural products. The day also considered as the birthday of human beings. Noodles are eaten to promote longevity. As to the ninth day, people present the offering to the Jade Emperor, the God of the Heaven in Chinese Legend. When it comes to the tenth day, relatives and friends should be invited home to have dinner.

After such a long time’s sumptuous feast, on the 13th day people are supposed to have something simple and light to cleanse their body system to keep health.