2010 Chinese New Year
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Customs and Celebration of Spring Festival
Many customs accompany the Spring Festival. On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make Laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with glutinous rice, millet, seeds of Job's tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko. People will have Laba Rice Porridge on this day.
Having Laba Rice Porridge has a history of over one thousand years in China. This tradition originated from Indian Buddhism. Legend has it that Sakyamuni became a Buddhist under a banyan on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Afterwards, people would have rice porridge on this day in memory of the Buddha's sufferings. Also, Laba Rice Porridge would be cooked on this day in temples in many places, with rice, nutlet, millet, etc. as the raw material. It would be sacrificed to the Buddha first and then given out to disciples and the poor. Since Laba Rice Porridge was believed to be blessed with good fortune and longevity, it was also called "Longevity Blessing Porridge" and "Virtue Blessing Porridge".
The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the coming New Year. This is called "Seeing the New Year in". Before the New Year Eve comes, people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners' wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance.
The Chinese character "fu" (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the "reversed fu" is homophonic with "fu comes", both being pronounced as "fudaole." What's more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.
People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively "ji", "yu" and "doufu," mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness. By eating half of a fish on New Year's Eve and saving the remainder for the next day, families can transfer their surplus luck to the New Year.
On the Spring Festival, the food is delicious and various. The traditional food includes Glutinous Rice Dumpling (Zongzi), new year cakes (niangao), and dumplings (jiaozi). Chicken is a must in the Spring Festival. In Chinese, Zongzi in sound has the meaning of have a baby. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, as they think "jiaozi" in sound means "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new". Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. Southern Chinese eat niangao, or new year cake made of glutinous rice flour on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means "better life in the following year." The first five days after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely.
More Infomations: Chinese New Year Traditional Activities Calendar ,Chinese Character 'Fu'
Celebrations
To celebrate the biggest and most important festival, people do a lot of preparations for it. Early from December 23rd in the Chinese calendar, people begin to clean their houses to bid farewell to the old year. In China, this is called Spring Cleaning. Decorating the houses is also necessary. In China, red is very popular when celebrate festivals because it means good luck and it can set off a happy atmosphere. Therefore, big red lanterns are hung in front of their houses, on trees along the streets, on buildings and stores. On the eve of Spring Festival, red couplets and posters are posted on doors. They symbolize happiness, prosperity and good luck in the New Year. For the Spring Festival is a time for family reunion, therefore, on the eve of Spring Festival, all family members get together to have Reunion Dinner. After the banquet, all family members share the Spring Festival Gala Evening, a performance on CCTV loved by people at home and abroad.
When the clock strikes 12 o'clock midnight of New Year's Eve, people light firecrackers and fireworks. It is one of the most popular ways of celebrating the spring festivals coming. It is so exited that people always stay until the wee hours of the morning. The lively atmosphere is full of households, streets, as well as lanes.
On the Spring Festival, people wear new clothes to welcome the New Years coming. At the early morning, people greet relatives and friends with congratulations and wish good luck to each other. This custom is called New Year Greetings. Then children received their lucky money in red pockets from their grandparents, their parents, their relatives and friends of their parents. It is believed that red pocket money can bring good luck and ward off monsters. When the children get their lucky money, they always give their best regards with auspicious words.
There are lots of activities of celebrating the Spring Festival, such as various ball games, evening parties and dancing, but the most popular ones are Dragon Dance and Lion Dance.
China is a big country with 56 ethnic groups. All the ethnic groups celebrate the spring festival almost the same day with different customs. If you come to the Tibet, Yunnan, Guizhou Province at this time, you can also share the minority way of celebrating the Spring Festival, much special and enjoyable. The following are the customs of famous cities Beijing, Hong Kong, Guilin, and Guangzhou celebrate the Spring Festival.
More Infomations: Chinese New Year Traditions, Chinese New Year greetings , China New Year's Eve
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