This can be one of the most boring times of the year for Westerners: the holidays have finished, all of the decorations cleaned up and put away, and now the cold seeps in! As such this is a great time to be in Asia as we are just ramping up to the biggest festival of the year. This year the Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, is early. It falls on January 23rd. As described in Wikipedia, "Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is known as "Spring Festival," the literal translation of the Chinese name 春節 (Pinyin: Chūn Jié), since the spring season in Chinese calendar starts with lichun, the first solar term in a Chinese calendar year. It marks the end of the winter season, analogous to the Western carnival. The festival begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: Zhēng Yuè) in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as Chú Xī (除夕) or "Eve of the Passing Year." Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year".
"The first date to mark on your calendar is Jan. 22, 2012, it’s the new year eve. This is the most important day of the year for families reunion. A feast, firework from 8pm to mid-night are traditional ways for locals to welcome the new year. The firework thing are getting a bit out of norm in the recent decade though. We will for sure hear fireworks through the night and the next day. Jan. 23, is the new year day, people go out to visit relatives, and giving out “Red envelop” ( real money in it, can be 100, 200…800, 1000). Only children gets redevelops…( this is the time of the year I wish I could have five kids or more). You’ve probably heard from your Ayi the tradition that no sweepings and cloth washing on the first day of a new year. Yes, it’s true. It’s said Good luck may be swept out or washed off on the first day. Besides that, we are supposed to only speak of happy and nice things this day.
The next date to mark is Jan. 26, the fourth day. From late afternoon to the morning of Jan. 27, it’s time to welcome CAI SHEN, God of wealth. Expect lots lots of fireworks. Locals typically get up early on the fifth day of new year (Jan. 27) because we believe CaiShen likes hard working people, yes, early birds get food.
Third date is Feb. 6. Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the new year. If we were living in the past century or earlier, this day would have been the only day in a year that young women were allowed to go out at night. It was the only night the whole night was bright, with thousands and thousands lanterns. It’s a tradition for locals to solve riddles and win prices that day, and also eat Tang Yuan/ Yuan Xiao, i.e., round dumplings made with sticky rice and sweat fillings. As you probably have notices, the round shape a lot times relates to “completeness” and “family reunion” in China.
To share with you my plan for the Chinese new year holiday:
first, do a thorough clean of my house before Jan. 22…when I still have Ayi to help.
Order three pieces of firework for the above mentioned three occasions.
Start to get the list of food for the new year eve and we will eat at home. (Chinese restaurants won’t have good chefs those days, all gone home).
Tour around the Lantern street in Yu Garden the weekend before Feb. 6. Buy the most expensive round dumplings (RMB20/pack) from Carrefour and eat (after boil) on Feb.6…
Oh, one more thing…to get a list of families who only have one child for my new year visit…haha… I have two kids."
This is the 'Seasonal Aisle" as it would be called in the stores in the States, of our local Supermarket. The red, featuring so prominently in nearly all Chinese rituals and decorations, symbolizes good fortune and joy while the gold symbolizes good luck.
This is one of my favorite decorations at a nearby mall, featuring the traditional Chinese Cheongsam dress and the dragon motif for 2012
I recently purchased this dragon decoration for my own front door and it will remain up throughout this lunar year.
Santa and his reindeer: really? But with a little help from Xiu, our ayi, we got them put together properly and have hung them on the front gate.
If you were born in the years '00, '88, '76, '64, '52, '40, '28, or the January/February of the following year, you may be a dragon in the Chinese Zodiac. As per Wikipedia, dragons are described as Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, eccentric, intellectual, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless, arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent, impetuous, brash. Do you Dragons recognize yourselves in there anywhere?
So mark your calendars: you are officially absolved of all cleaning duties on Monday the 23rd. I'm still trying to figure out if that includes dishes? Keep an eye out on the 26th and 27th for Cáishén. I hope he finds you all this year, that you recognize him and welcome him in! And perhaps there is a Lantern Festival in your neighborhood. If so I hope you get a chance to check it out. For the second time in a month, I wish you all a very Happy New Year: Xīnnián kuàilè! (新年快乐). But for the first time I wish you Good Luck in the Year of the Dragon: Lóng nián jíxiáng! (龙年吉祥). And last but not least, I wish you great prosperity: Gōngxǐ fācái! (恭喜发财). (I can proudly say that, while I have no recognition of the Mandarin characters, my vocabulary has progressed that I have a limited command of the pinyin words within those 3 wishes! Depending on the day and how much coffee I have or have not had!)
Our love and best to you all~
Our love and best to you all~
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