Chinese New Year – Vicky Sh.
Chinese New Year or Luna New Year is celebrated this year on the 10th of February. Here is what you need to know:
Celebrations: There are many celebrations during the Spring Festival, including lion dance, dragon dance, wandering gods, temple fairs, shopping in the flower street, admiring the lanterns, swimming gongs and drums, burning fireworks, praying, etc. In addition, there are customs such as decorating the house with New Year red decorative items and paying New Year’s greetings.
Customs and habits: During the Spring Festival, people will carry out a series of custom activities, such as posting couplets, blessing characters, door gods, ancestor worship, worship gods, as well as staying up, giving lucky money and so on. These customs are intended to express good hopes for the future and look back on the past.
Food: During the Spring Festival, people also enjoy certain foods, such as dumplings, glutinous rice balls, and rice cakes, which usually have auspicious meanings. (see this article for more information: Lucky food for Chinese New Year – Anson W. – The RHS Bubble (royalhospitalschool.org)
Regional differences: Due to different regional cultures, local Spring Festival customs will also be different. For example, some places hold temple fairs and gongs and drums Tours during the Spring Festival.
Historical significance: The Spring Festival is not only a time to celebrate the New Year, but also a time for family reunions and ancestor worship. It integrates various cultural and spiritual values, such as eliminating the old and the new, worshipping gods and ancestors, praying for good luck and warding off evil spirits, reuniting relatives and friends, and celebrating entertainment.
The Chinese Zodiac:
According to legend, when the Yellow Emperor (The Yellow Emperor was the leader of the tribal alliance in ancient China and was revered as the human ancestor of Chinese civilization) had to to choose 12 kinds of animals as palace guards, the cat asked his good friend rat to wake him up especially because he was afraid of oversleeping. However, the rat forgot to wake him. After the selection of the 12 palace guards, the cat woke up. It was already too late to be selected as a guard. This is the reason why there is no rat in the 12 Chinese zodiac and why the rat and cat became enemies.
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