The Chinese calendar defines the lunar month containing the winter solstice as the eleventh month, meaning that Chinese New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice (rarely the third if an intercalary month intervenes).[17] In more than 96 per cent of the years, Chinese New Year's Day is the closest date to a new moon to lichun (Chinese: ; lit. 'establishment of spring') on 4 or 5 February, and the first new moon after dahan (Chinese: ; lit. 'major cold'). In the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese New Year begins at the new moon that falls between 21 January and 20 February.[18]
According to legend, Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called the Nian (a beast that lives under the sea or in the mountains) during the annual Spring Festival. The Nian would eat villagers, especially children in the middle of the night.[19] One year, all the villagers decided to hide from the beast. An older man appeared before the villagers went into hiding and said that he would stay the night and would get revenge on the Nian. The old man put red papers up and set off firecrackers. The day after, the villagers came back to their town and saw that nothing had been destroyed. They assumed that the old man was a deity who came to save them. The villagers then understood that Yanhuang had discovered that the Nian was afraid of the color red and loud noises.[19] Then the tradition grew when New Year was approaching, and the villagers would wear red clothes, hang red lanterns, and red spring scrolls on windows and doors and used firecrackers and drums to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk.[20]
Free Download Chinese New Year Songs Mp3
Download Zip 🔥 https://urluso.com/2y7Zit 🔥
Han Chinese also started the custom of visiting acquaintances' homes and wishing each other a happy new year. In Book of the Later Han, volume 27, a county officer was recorded as going to his prefect's house with a government secretary, toasting the prefect, and praising the prefect's merit.[27][28]
Amid the sound of firecrackers a year has come to an end,
The spring wind has wafted warm breath to the Tusu wine.
While the rising sun shines over each and every household,
People get rid of the old couplets and put up the new ones.
It was also during the Song dynasty that people started to give money to children in celebration of a new year. The money was called sui nian qian (), meaning "the money based on age". In the chapter "Ending of a year" () of Wulin jiushi (), the writer recorded that concubines of the emperor prepared a hundred and twenty coins for princes and princesses, to wish them long lives.[38]
The tradition of eating Chinese dumplings jiaozi () was established under the Ming dynasty at the latest. It is described in the book Youzhongzhi (): "People get up at 5 in the morning of new year's day, burn incense and light firecrackers, throw door latch or wooden bars in the air three times, drink pepper and thuja wine, eat dumplings. Sometimes put one or two silver currency inside dumplings, and whoever gets the money will attain a year of fortune."[40] Modern Chinese people also put other food that is auspicious into dumplings: such as dates, which prophesy a flourishing new year; candy, which predicts sweet days; and nian gao, which foretells a rich life.
In the Qing dynasty, the name ya sui qian (, New Year's Money) was given to the lucky money given to children at the new year. The book Qing Jia Lu () recorded: "elders give children coins threaded together by a red string, and the money is called Ya Sui Qian."[41] The name is still used by modern Chinese people. The lucky money was presented in one of two forms: one was coins strung on red string; the other was a colourful purse filled with coins.[42]In 1928, the ruling Kuomintang party decreed that the Chinese New Year would fall on 1 Jan of the Gregorian Calendar, but this was abandoned due to overwhelming popular opposition. In 1967, during the Cultural Revolution, official Chinese New Year celebrations were banned in China. The State Council of the People's Republic of China announced that the public should "change customs"; have a "revolutionized and fighting Spring Festival"; and since people needed to work on Chinese New Year Eve, they did not need holidays during Spring Festival day. The old celebrations were reinstated in 1980.[43]
Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in some countries and territories where there is a sizeable Chinese population. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. In some countries, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day if the New Year (as a public holiday) falls on a weekend, as in the case of 2013, where the New Year's Eve (9 February) falls on Saturday and the New Year's Day (10 February) on Sunday. Depending on the country, the holiday may be termed differently; common names in English are "Chinese New Year", "Lunar New Year", "New Year Festival", and "Spring Festival".
On the days immediately before the New Year celebration, Chinese families give their homes a thorough cleaning. There is a Cantonese saying "Wash away the dirt on nin ya baat" (Chinese: ; pinyin: nin nin b, x lt; Jyutping: nin4 jaa6 baat3, sai2 laap6 taap3 (laat6 taat3)), but the practice is not restricted to nin ya baat (the 28th day of month 12). It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that the newly arrived good luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint; decorators and paper-hangers do a year-end rush of business prior to Chinese New Year.[64] Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing and shoes also symbolize a new start. Any hair cuts need to be completed before the New Year, as cutting hair on New Year is considered bad luck due to the homonymic nature of the word "hair" (fa) and the word for "prosperity". Businesses are expected to pay off all the debts outstanding for the year before the new year eve, extending to debts of gratitude. Thus it is a common practice to send gifts and rice to close business associates, and extended family members.
Prior to the Reunion Dinner, a prayer of thanksgiving is held to mark the safe passage of the previous year. Confucianists take the opportunity to remember their ancestors, and those who had lived before them are revered. Some people do not give a Buddhist prayer due to the influence of Christianity, with a Christian prayer offered instead.
In northern China, it is customary to make jiaozi, or dumplings, after dinner to eat around midnight. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape resembles a Chinese sycee. In contrast, in the South, it is customary to make a glutinous new year cake (niangao) and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days. Ningo [Pinyin] literally means "new year cake" with a homophonous meaning of "increasingly prosperous year in year out".[65]
Normal traditions occurring on the first day involve house gatherings to the families, specifically the elders and families to the oldest and most senior members of their extended families, usually their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, and trading Mandarin oranges as a courtesy to symbolize wealth and good luck. Members of the family who are married also give red envelopes containing cash known as lai see (Cantonese: ) or angpow (Hokkien and Teochew), or hongbao (Mandarin: ), a form of a blessing and to suppress both the ageing and challenges that were associated with the coming year, to junior members of the family, mostly children and teenagers. Business managers may also give bonuses in the form of red packets to employees.[68] The money can be of any form, specifically numbers ending with 8, which sounded as huat (Mandarin: ), meaning prosperity, but packets with denominations of odd numbers or without money are usually not allowed due to bad luck, especially the number 4 which sounded as si (Mandarin: ), which means death.[69][68]
While fireworks and firecrackers are traditionally very popular, some regions have banned them due to concerns over fire hazards. For this reason, various city governments (e.g., Kowloon, Beijing, Shanghai for a number of years) issued bans over fireworks and firecrackers in certain precincts of the city. As a substitute, large-scale fireworks display have been launched by governments in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The second day also saw giving offering money and sacrifices to the God of Wealth (Chinese: ) to symbolize a rewarding time after hardship in the preceding year. During the days of imperial China, "beggars and other unemployed people circulate[d] from family to family, carrying a picture [of the God of Wealth] shouting, "Cai Shen dao!" [The God of Wealth has come!]."[71] Householders would respond with "lucky money" to reward the messengers. Business people of the Cantonese dialect group will hold a 'Hoi Nin' prayer to start their business on the second day of Chinese New Year, blessing business to strive in the coming year.
The seventh day, traditionally known as Renri (the common person's birthday), is the day when everyone grows one year older. In some overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore, it is also the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten for continued wealth and prosperity. 006ab0faaa
letterhead design in word free download