Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, signifies the beginning of spring in the Chinese lunar calendar. It occurs somewhere between Jan. 20 and Feb. 20 and this year it falls on Feb. 9.

Each Chinese year is represented as one of 12 animals in a repeated cycle; the rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog or pig. This year is the Year of the Rooster. Chinese New Year is China's biggest holiday.

Chinese New Year's customs vary from place to place in China because China is a big country geographically, demographically and ethnically. But the spirit underlying the diverse celebrations of the New Year is the same; a sincere wish of peace and happiness for family members and friends.

Origin

The origin of the Chinese New Year is ancient, but many believe the word nian, which means "year," was the name of a beast that preyed on people on the eve of a new year. According to a widely acknowledged legend, a god from heaven taught earthly people to scare away the beast with fireworks and red paper on their doors and windows.

As Nian came out to prey only on New Year's Eve, the whole family came together, had a feast, lit fireworks and enjoyed their time until the turn of the day, when nian went away. Chinese words guonian, or celebrating the new year, originally meant surviving the beast.

Tradition

As part of the Chinese New Year celebration, people buy presents, decorations, special foods and new clothing. Railroad stations throughout the country are filled with travelers who take their vacation days around the festival to return home for a family reunion.

On Dec. 23 in the Chinese lunar calendar, sacrifices are given to the "kitchen god," who was believed to be the family protector and in charge of the family kitchen. A picture of the kitchen god is hung on the kitchen wall and malt sugar is offered to the portrait.

Chinese hope the god will eat the sugar and say something good about the family when he returns to heaven. Although people still do this, they don't really believe in it anymore.

Days before the Spring Festival, every family is busy giving their house a thorough cleaning, hoping to sweep away all the ill-fortune there may have been in the family to make way for the incoming good luck. But all brooms and dustpans are put away on New Year's Eve so good luck cannot be swept away.

In many homes, doors and windowpanes get a new coat of red paint. The home is decorated with paper cuttings and poems, called couplets, of "happiness," "wealth," "longevity" and "satisfactory marriage with children." Paintings of the same themes are mounted on the walls.

Many lucky words are written on the paper and pasted on doors. Chinese word Fu, meaning "fortune" or "good luck," is one of the most popular words for families. Many families put the word upside down, which indicates "the good luck has arrived," as the pronunciation of "arrival" in Chinese is similar to that of "upside down."

A family festival & New Year's Eve

Chinese New Year is a time for reconciliation. Old grudges are forgiven. People are warm and friendly toward one another. Sometimes people exchange gifts.

An important part of the New Year celebration is to honor and respect relatives and ancestors who have died. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving.

On the Eve, ancestors are remembered with great respect. People burn incenses and pray for the tranquility of the ancestral spirit.

The spiritual presence of ancestors is acknowledged by the family banquet on New Year's Eve. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living relatives, celebrate the New Year together. A special feast called weilu, which means "surrounding the stove," symbolizes family unity and honors past and present generations.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, the whole family stays up all night playing cards, mah-jong or watching TV programs dedicated to the New Year's celebration. Lights in the house are kept on during the whole night.

At midnight, the sky is lit up by fireworks to symbolize the sending out of the old year and the welcoming in of the new year. People open all the windows and doors in the house to let the old year out.

Food

In different places throughout China, people eat different things for the Spring Festival period. In Lunar December, people in South China make preserved hams, chicken, fish and sausages, as this is the best month of the year to prepare such food. Guangdong Province is famous for high-quality preserved sausages.

Rice cakes are a traditional food for the festival. Meaning "higher in the new year," rice cakes of different flavors are prepared with the hope for wealth and a better life in the new year.

In northern China, rice cakes are always sweet, with rice flour, dates, peanuts, sugar and beans. In southern China, salty rice cakes are also popular, which may use meat as the ingredient. The cakes can be steamed, fried, stir-fried or boiled in soups to make different dishes.

On the Chinese New Year's Eve, traditional Chinese food is a must for all families. In southern China, people eat wontons, noodles or rice balls.

In northern China, people eat jiaozi, or boiled dumplings, which have a similar shape to old China's gold or silver ingots and symbolize wealth. In wrapping dumplings, some families put a couple of coins into several dumplings and the people that have awful bites are considered to have good luck in the new year.

(Shenzhen Daily February 3, 2005)