Chinese New Year
China’s most popular traditional holiday, Chinese New Year (CNY) is a time for feasting, family reunions, fun and celebration! Every year, Asians throughout the world spend weeks preparing for the 15-day celebration, officially called the Spring Festival. In 2010, Chinese New Year falls on Sunday, February 14th. It is lunar year 4708, the year of Tiger according to the Chinese lunar calendar.
Last year, the CNY begins on Monday January 26 in 2009. It is the Year of Ox, year 4707 on the Chinese calendar.
Here are some of the ways you can celebrate CNY:
1. Clean House - Before the New Year arrives, the Chinese consider it very important to give the house a thorough cleaning, sweeping away any bad luck that may have accumulated over the past year.
2. Decorate! - Doors and window panes are also often painted red, considered to be a lucky color. In addition, people like to hang paper-cuts and Chinese Calligraphy on doors and windows. Paper cutting is an ancient Chinese art form.
3. Ware brand new clothes – it will bring you a better New Year and prospect.
4. Don't clean for the first few days of the New Year - if you do any sweeping during this time, you may risk sweeping away your good luck.
5. Offer a Sacrifice to the Kitchen God - Many families have a poster or statue of the Kitchen God in their kitchen. The custom is to offer a ceremonial sacrifice to the Kitchen God, to make sure that he gives a good report on the family's behavior when he returns to heaven. Rice sticky cake (Nian Gao) is popular, or children may rub honey on him.
6. An important tradition on New Year's Eve is for families to gather together and spend the evening preparing Chinese dumplings (Jiaozi – wheat flour or Yuanzi – rice flour). According to Chinese culture, it is common to hide a coin in one of the dumplings. Whoever gets the dumpling with the coin will supposedly have good luck in the coming year.
7. Give out money packets - On New Years day, children receive the “Spring Festival Money Gift (or yashuiqian), a red packet decorated with gold symbols and filled with "lucky money".
8. Like Thanksgiving and Christmas in the US, Chinese serve festive foods throughout the CNY season. Certain foods are served because they symbolize abundance and good fortune. Besides preparing special dishes, tangerines and oranges are often passed out to children and guests, as they symbolize wealth and good luck.作者: Timemonds_Jewel 时间: 2011-1-29 16:01:48
