Chinese New Year is a very old celebration, a time for repaying debts,
enjoying feasts, giving "red envelopes" of lucky money to friends and relatives,
and remembering ancestors. There are many old and delightful ancient
superstitions surrounding this holiday.
Here's one example:
Long ago, in Han times, there was a monster whose name was "Nian". This
monster came once each year to a little village and scared everyone! One day,
just by luck, the villagers discovered that "Nian" had a couple fears of his
own. He was afraid of the color red and even more afraid of scary loud
noises!
The villagers prepared. When "Nian" appeared, everyone in the
village ran for the red banners and noise makers they had made. They waved their
banners and rattled their noise makers, which scared "Nian" so much that "Nian"
ran away and was never heard from again!
Which explains why people in China believe the color red signifies joy and
luck, and why noise makers are rattled on Chinese New Year. At midnight,
firecrackers, paper dragons, noise makers, the waving of red ribbons and banners
all help to drive away any lingering evil spirits from the old year. (In case
"Nian" is still lurking about somewhere!)
Chinese New Year Superstitions:
-On Chinese New Year Eve, parents encourage children to stay awake as long
as possible, because legend says that the longer children stay awake, the longer
their parents will live.
-The Kitchen God was an important ancient deity. Once each year, right
before the new year, this god's job was to make an annual report about the
behavior of the household to his boss, the "Jade Emperor". Today, as part of the
Chinese New Year celebration, sweets are often exchanged so that the kitchen
god's report will be sweet and flattering. (Nobody believes in the kitchen god
anymore, but almost everyone likes the treats!)
-Sweeping during Chinese New Year is very unlucky as you might sweep
the new year luck right out of your house!
Yan Yat:
The seventh day of the Chinese New Year is called Yan Yat, "Everybody's
Birthday." According to Chinese legend, Buddha invited all the creatures in his
kingdom to appear before him. The 12 animals who successfully completed this
journey were each honored with one year in their name!
CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL:
This holiday is
celebrated approximately 15 days after the start of the Chinese New Year.
Chinese Lantern Festival is very old.
Legend says . . .
There are many wonderful stories about how the Lantern
Festival first began. One story is that in ancient times, people would go in
search of spirits with burning sticks. They thought the spirits could be seen
during a full moon. Another is about a lonely young girl, in Han times, who
tricked an emperor into having a wonderful festival, so she could visit with her
family! The emperor had such a good time, he decided to make this festival an
annual event! That story, and other old stories about the origins of Lantern
Festival can be found here: Chinese Lantern Festival
By T'ang times, many families simply set aside one evening, during the
first full moon after the new year, to honor the moon. They would sit outside,
and gaze up, in awe and delight.
Today, people wear white in honor of the moon, lanterns are hung in the
malls and markets, and children carry paper lanterns to school, to light their
way to a bright and happy future.
MORE CHINESE FESTIVALS:
Many Chinese festivals began in BC times, and have quite an interesting
history.
The Spring Festival, The Clear & Bright Festival, Sweet Dumpling
Festival and Dragon Boat Festival are just to name a few!
DRAGON LORE:
Dragons are an important part of many Chinese festivals, including Chinese
New Year. In ancient China, dragons did not breathe fire. Dragons were wise and
caring. They guarded the wind, the rain, the rivers, precious metals and gems.
Many countries use dragons in their art, especially China, Korea and Japan.
It's easy to tell the difference between Chinese, Korean and Japanese dragons.
Just count the dragon's toes!
-Chinese dragons have five toes!
-Korean dragons have
four toes!
-Japanese dragons have three toes!
Legend says . . .
The farther dragons travel from their home in
China, the more toes they lose! Fortunately, when wandering dragons return home
to China, all their missing toes grow back. But, as most dragons would prefer to
keep all their toes, all the time, few dragons ever wander very far from home.