New Year's Eve and Chinese New
Year
The bustle and clamor at the markets selling colorful spring couplets and other New
Year's decorations . . . Beginning in mid-December, families all around China start
preparing for Chinese New Year, making the feeling of celebration and renewal palpable.
A
time of gratitude and family togetherness, New Year's Eve is spent by bidding farewell to
the old year and thanking one's ancestors and the gods for their blessing and protection.
Children that have left their hometown return on this day to share New Year's Eve Dinner
with their families, and for those unable to make the journey, a table setting is placed
to symbolize their presence in spirit if not in body. At the end of dinner, the parents
and older generation give New Year's Money to the children, who have been waiting with
growing anticipation for this moment to arrive. Finally, to watch the old year out and
bring in the new year, families stay up all night until the wee hours of New Year's Day.
With the arrival of New Year's Day, life is renewed and the new year begins to unfold
amidst a din of firecrackers. The Chinese begin the day by worshipping their ancestors,
following which the streets become filled with people making New Year's visits to friends
and relatives and with the lively display of dragon dancing, tiger dancing, and other folk
activities.
To insure the arrival of luck and wealth in the new year, several taboos must be
heeded. Floors may not be swept and garbage may not be disposed for fear of casting riches
out the door; cussing and quarreling is to be avoided at all costs; and anyone who breaks
a dish on this day must quickly say "Peace for all time," to avoid incurring
misfortune.
On the second day of the new year, married women return to their natal home to visit
family; on the fourth day, the gods return to the world of the living; and on the fifth
day, many new stores and businesses open their doors for the first time due to the
auspiciousness of the day. The festive air of celebration continues in this manner all the
way up to the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the new year before slowly ebbing
back to normal life again.
Though the customary festivities held on Chinese New Year have been handed down for
millennia, they still retain tremendous significance today. The cleaning and arrangement
of one's living environment improves household sanitation and symbolizes a new beginning;
the worship of ancestors and deities a reflects of the Chinese particularity about filial
piety and family ethics, and services as an expression of gratitude; sitting around the
hearth symbolizes unity and the value of spending important occasions together with
family; and the customs of making New Year's visits and returning home to one's parents
after marriage helps to maintain important social bonds between friends and families.
Superstitious taboos, may perhaps be seen as ancient ways of harmonizing and regulating
one's lifestyle. Thus, preserving and incorporating the values of these New Year
traditions into modern day life is a goal we should all strive for. |
