 Chinese New Year ( 新年 ) , also known as the Lunar New Year ( 农历新年 ) or the Spring Festival ( 春节 ) is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Day, celebrated on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, i.e. the day of the second new moon after the day on which the winter solstice ( 冬至 ) occurs, unless there is an intercalary eleventh or twelfth month in the lead-up to the New Year—in such a case, the New Year falls on the day of the third new moon after the solstice. The Chinese New Year period ends with the Lantern Festival ( 元宵节 ) , the fifteenth day of the month.
Legend has it that in ancient China Nian was a man-devouring predator beast that could infiltrate houses silently. The Chinese soon learned that Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the color red, and they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of color red domestically. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations.
Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered to be a major holiday for the Chinese as well as ethnic groups such as the Mongolians, Koreans, the Miao ( 苗 Chinese Hmong) and the Vietnamese, who were influenced by Chinese culture in terms of religious and philosophical worldview, language and culture in general. Chinese New Year is also the time when the largest human migration takes place when Chinese all around the world return home on Chinese New Year eve to have reunion dinner ( 团圆饭 ) with their family.
 Usually family members gather on the morning of New Year's Day. It is at this gathering that red packets ( 红包 ) are given to unmarried members of the family. The age of the recipient is not material to receiving the packets. Married couples usually give out two red packets on the first new year after being married. This is because the wife presents one and the husband presents one. In subsequent years they may give one as a couple.
The second day of the new year is usually for visiting the family of the wife if a couple is married. A large feast is also typically held on the second day of the new year.
However, Chinese believe that on the third day ( 年初三 ) of the Chinese New Year it is not appropriate to visit family and friends, and call the day "chec hao" ( 赤口 ), meaning "easy to get into arguments".
The Chinese New Year is often accompanied by roucious greetings, often refered to as ( 吉祥话 ) , or loosely translated as auspicious words or phrases. Some of the most common examples may include:
Traditional Chinese: 新年快乐; A more contemporary greeting reflective of western influences, it literally translates from the greeting "Happy new year" more common in the west.
Traditional Chinese: 恭喜发财; which loosely translates to "Congratulations and be prosperous."
Numerous other greetings exist, some of which may be exclaimed out loud to no one in particular during specific events or actions. For example, as breaking objects during the new year is considered inauspicious, one may then say 岁岁平安 immediately, which means everlasting peace year after year. 岁 (Suì) sounds phonetically similar to the word 碎 (Suì), the later of which refers to the action of shattering, in a demonstration of the Chinese love for utilising phonetical patterns in coming up with similar auspicious phrases. Hence, 年年有余, meaning a wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year, plays on the word yú to also refer to 鱼 (meaning fish), thus using it as a catch phrase for dish-based Chinese new year dishes or writtern on paintings or graphics of fish and hung on walls or presented as gifts. |
