e5c2f6170028866920a4e90dQuestion 1: Why are the traditions of Chinese Spring Festival so complicated?

The Chinese Spring Festival or Chinese (or Lunar) New Year is very much like Chinese food: You have not just one or two main courses, but a wide array of dishes served on the same table. And you have to finish all of them to be a good guest. 

Most western holidays, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter or Halloween, often have one central theme based on Christianity, national history or folklore and involve just one or two specific figures, such as Santa Claus, the Indians or Jesus Christ, whereas the Chinese Spring Festival is actually a mixture of different holidays piled up together through different dynasties. Over the years, the festival has grown to include a lot of different customs.

For example, there is ancestor worship when every Chinese family should do every ritual in the right order (in the manner of the old stickler Confucius). At the same time they’ll treat the kitchen gods with sticky sweets so that they won’t give “bad reports” about the family to the Jade Emperor in Heaven — this is a Taoist tradition. The same family may also put up the pictures of the door guardian gods Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong, a folk custom originating in the Tang Dynasty. Almost everyone in China enjoys letting off fireworks at Spring Festival. The tradition is said to come from China’s most ancient myths dating back more than 4,000 years: the loud noise and flames of the fireworks are said to scare away the ferocious monster Nian (年or ‘Year’).

Public celebrations of Spring Festival include Temple Fairs, which originated from religious parades hosted by Buddhist and Taoist Temples in ancient times, and have now merged with other public celebrations such as dragon and lion dancing, parade of legendary figures and deities and trade in handicrafts and snacks.

Apart from the different ways of celebrating and marking the new year, every Chinese New Year is a chance to celebrate the start of a year in the 12-animal Chinese zodiac.

Every Chinese province and most ethnic groups have their own, different traditions of celebrating the New Year. The Chinese New Year is no less than a living encyclopedia of the Chinese history, and most Chinese people do not even know all the different customs and traditions.

Nonetheless, Chinese Spring Festival is such a mixed set of traditions so it is very open and inclusive, with no prejudice against any religion or cultural background. And since most of the fun is about eating, drinking, letting off fireworks and having fun, it’s easy to share the festival’s joy and good luck.

Of course, another difficult thing about the Chinese New Year is it’s timing, which has to be calculated against the traditional Chinese calendar that takes 60 years as a cycle, but specialists already calculated everything for us, so don’t worry about that. Wikipedia has a good entry on Chinese New Year that includes a date calculator.

Question 2. Why all the noise, fireworks and brightly colored decorations?

The Chinese sensibility for color and sound is very close to the naturalistic approach of children. For example, most Chinese people enjoy big families, like big and colorful public celebrations and their best word to describe a successful public event is ‘renao‘ (热闹), literally meaning hot and noisy.

If an occasion is not renao enough, it is almost equal to failure. Chinese people like to be amazed by surprising contrasts, such as decorations in traditional red, yellow and green, and they like fireworks that make sudden bursts and splendid colors. They also admire stunts of all kinds, be they lion or dragon dances, performances on stilts, kung fu or acrobatics.

As for the celebrations during the holiday, although the official holiday of Spring Festival now only has 7 days starting from the 30th day of the 12th lunar month (February 14 this year), traditionally the holiday begins as early as the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, on the Enlightenment Day of Sakyamuni, and then extends all the way till the 15th day of the first lunar month, often called the Lantern Festival (yuanxiaojie 元宵节).

There is a proverb about proper activities during this long period of holiday in north China which goes like this:

二十三，糖瓜粘，二十四，扫房子，二十五，磨豆腐，二十六，炖年肉，二十七，烧年鸡，二十八，把面发，二十九，蒸馒头，三十晚上守一宿，大年初一满街走。

On the twenty-third, give treats to the kitchen god; on the twenty-fourth, clean the house; on the twenty-fifth, make toufu; on the twenty-sixth, braise the meat; on the twenty-seventh, cook the chicken; on the twenty-eighth, leaven the dough; on the twenty-ninth, steam the bread; on the thirtieth, stay up all night; on the first day of the new year, go out and walk around

In terms of family celebrations, on the New Year’s Eve, most families will put up spring couplets, pictures of guardian gods and lanterns. Traditionally, people burn incenses in front of pictures of their ancestors, visit senior family members and give gifts to children, and then eat a big dinner of Chinese dumplings together and stay up all night to bid farewell to the old year.

Some families also prepare dried tree branches for the children to stamp with feet, which is called caicui (踩岁), or “step into a new year“, or ask every member of the family to sing or dance in turns as a cultural celebration which is the prototype for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala Night (春晚). This annual TV extravaganza is the most popular contemporary Chinese tradition Spring Festival Gala the most-watched TV show on the planet.

One of the most important family celebrations is letting off firecrackers. The most important times to let off fireworks are 12 midnight on the New Year’s Eve, early in the morning of the First Day of New Year to “open the door” of the household, and once again on the Lantern Festival. But people start letting of fireworks a few days before New Year’s day, and continue for two weeks, day and night.

The most common public New Year celebrations in China  are the temple fairs (庙会), which is open either on New Year’s Eve or the first day of the New Year in different towns and cities and last for 5 to 15 days. In Beijing alone there are more than 10 big temple fairs which have histories of more than 400 years. There are also many celebrations of the Chinese New Year among Chinese communities across the world, such as the London Chinatown Celebrations, San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade, Sydney Chinese New Year celebrations etc.

Question 3. Are there any special activities for children during this time of year?

The Spring Festival is wonderful time for the children not only because it is part of their winter holiday free from school, but also because it can give them a good chance to meet different members of the family, make friends with their cousins and relatives, visit their classmates and friends, eat good things all day long, get new clothes, gifts and hong bao (红包) — red packets of money (压岁钱) from their parents and relatives.

At the same time, they can go to the temple fairs, watch fireworks, get new experiences and above all other things, since the Chinese people more or less all believe in good luck, when children do something wrong during the spring festival, they will find themselves in less trouble than in ordinary days, and their parents will give them smiling faces and secretly ask the watchful gods for forgiveness and blessing.

For example, when the children break some dishes, instead of scolding them, the parents will say “suisui pingan” （岁岁平安）, meaning “peace and safety every year”. Sometimes you’ll even see a little poster saying tongyan wuji（童言无忌） which means “Don’t take the kids seriously”, asking the gods to just let the kids have their way.

Question 4. What type and how many special meals are required to celebrate the Spring Festival

Generally speaking, biggest meal is dinner on the last evening of the old year, or nianyefan (年夜饭), or New Year’s Eve dinner. It could be lunch or dinner, or even breakfast depending on the region. The most distinctive food is jiaozi (饺子) or dumplings which got their name from “crossing the year” (also pronounced jiaozi 交子). They are shaped like silver ingots and symbolize good fortune. 

Breakfast on New Year’s Day is also considered very important in some regions. Apart from that, a big meal could also happen on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, which is called “Little New Year”, or on the 29th, called “Little New Year’s Eve”, and one meal of round sticky dumplings (tangyuan 汤圆) should be eaten on the 15, the Lantern Festival, to symbolize togetherness.

In some regions, there is one meal of smaller dumplings, or huntun, (馄饨) on the 2nd day of the New Year, and another meal of porridge, fish or pancake on the 7th day.

Question 5. Why is it so important to return home even if one is far away during the Spring Festival

China is a very family-oriented nation, and ancestor worship is still a very much a living tradition. Parents and grandparents in the Chinese tradition symbolize selfless love and benevolence, and so are deserving of the children’s full respect and gratitude: this is a big part of Spring Festival.

Question 6. Is it customary to give gifts for Spring Festival?

Yes, you’d better prepare gifts for all the people you’re going to visit during this period. The most common gifts are food and drink, and red envelopes of money for children. (Beware! It is not proper to give money to your seniors.)

To conclude, we wish you a happy Chinese New Year of the Tiger and enjoy your time with SeeChina in the New Year!