This is my english report that our teacher made us do… lol… enjoy..
CHINESE NEW YEAR
“AN AGE OLD FESTIVAL”
It’s that time of year again where we can see red everywhere, hear the sounds of firecrackers, taste the wonderful delicacies prepared and feel the happiness and togetherness of all Chinese people. Yes, it’s Chinese New Year; One of the most important festivals for the Chinese race. The Chinese New Year is celebrated on the First Moon of the Lunar Calendar. If according to the Gregorian calendar, the date varies from as early as January 21ST to as late as February 19TH.
Chinese New Year, Spring Festival or also known as the Lunar New Year marks the start of a new year, a time to turn over a new leaf. This festival emphasizes on the importance of family ties, which is why it’s a time for family reunions as well as visiting of friends and relatives. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Lunar Calendar and ends on the 15th day; which is also known as The Festival of Lanterns.
According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian or “Year” in Chinese. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian.
Now to start things off, we begin with the preparations for Chinese New Year. On the 20th day of the Twelfth Moon, annual housecleaning, or commonly known as the ‘sweeping of the grounds’ will be done. On this day, every corner of the house must be swept and cleaned in preparation for Chinese New Year. Traditionally but less practiced in Malaysia, Spring Couplets will be written in black ink on large vertical scrolls of red paper, and then put on the walls or on the sides of the gate-ways. These couplets, short poems written in Classical Chinese or auspicious phrases, were expressions of good wishes for the family in the coming year. In addition to the Spring Couplets, symbolic flowers and fruits were also used to decorate the house.
After the cleaning of the house was done, it is time to bid farewell to the Kitchen God (Zaowang). In traditional China, the Kitchen God was regarded as the guardian of the family hearth. He was identified as the inventor of fire, which was necessary for cooking and was also the censor of household morals. By tradition, the Kitchen God left the house on the 23rd of the last month to report to heaven on the behavior of the family.
At this time, the family did everything possible to obtain a favorable report from the Kitchen God. On the evening of the 23rd, the family would give the Kitchen God a ritualistic farewell dinner with sweet foods and honey. Some said this was a bribe, others said it sealed his mouth from saying bad things. Free from the ever-watchful eyes of theKitchen God, who will return on the first day of the New Year, the family now prepares for the upcoming celebrations. Families will be busy during the last week of the old year stocking up on food stuff and gifts. The Chinese community tends more often to give food items, such as fruits and cookies.
The last day of the old year, which is Chinese New Year’s Eve is known as Chúxī, literally means “Year-pass Eve”. On the last day of the old year, everyone will be busy either preparing food for the next two days, or going tidying themselves up for the New Year’s Day. Preparation of all food materials before the New Year’s Day, is in order to ensure that all sharp instruments, such as knives and scissors, could be put away to avoid cutting the “luck” of the New Year. In addition, Chinese tradition stipulates that brooms, mops and all other cleaning materials were to be kept away too.
All New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations were strictly family affairs. On the night of Chinese New Year’s Eve, all the family members, both far and near, come together to have a important family reunion dinner. The venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the family. Even if a family member could not attend, an empty seat would be kept to symbolize that person’s presence at the dinner.
The reunion dinner is usually a very sumptuous meal and starts off with the serving of ‘yee-sang’ which is a raw fish salad added with oil and sweet sauces. The dish, ‘yee-sang’, will be mixed or tossed high up by all the members of the family using chopsticks, and it is said it will help the young ones to grow up well and bring good luck to the family. This meal traditionally includes many dishes such as chicken, fish, noodles, the Buddha’s Delight, dumplings etc. Each and every food served has its own meaning and symbolizes something. The fish which is included is normally not eaten completely, because of the Chinese phrase “may there be surpluses every year”, ‘nián nián yǒu yú’, sounds the same as “may there be fish every year.” Other than fish, families also serve uncut noodles, which symbolize longevity and long life. While the Buddha’s Delight, a serving of an elaborate vegetarian dish, has a type of black hair-like algae, pronounced as “Fatt Choy” in Cantonese, is also featured in the dish for its name, which sounds like “prosperity”
The first day of Chinese New Year officially begins at midnight. According to tradition, the first day is for welcoming the deities of the heavens and earth. At the stroke of midnight following the dinner, the younger members of the family would bow and pay their respects to their parents and elders. Besides that, at midnight, most houses will set off firecrackers and/or fireworks to scare away the bad luck of the past year. On this day, families will visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grand-parents and great grand-parents. During this visiting, the married members of the family will give out red packets containing cash to the junior members of the family, mostly children.
During the course of visiting, everyone will put on new clothes mainly featuring the colour red because it is believed that red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. In addition, wearing new clothes symbolize new beginning for a new year and that there will be more than enough things to use and wear in the year ahead. Besides that, one will wish everyone Happy Chinese New Year, which is “Xin Nian Kuai Le” or wishes such as congratulations and be prosperous, “Kung Hei Fat Choi”, can also be wished. Although impolite, some teenagers or children would tend to jokingly wish in words such as, “Gong Xi Fa Cai, Hong Bao Na Lai”, when translated means, “Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope!”
On the second day of Chinese New Year married daughters return home to visit their birth parents. Traditionally, daughters who have been married may not have the opportunity to visit their birth families frequently. From the second day onwards, visiting is done, though some families prefer to stay at home during the 3RD and 4TH day of Chinese New Year for others to visit them. The seventh day of Chinese New Year is traditionally known as ‘ren ri’, or better known as common man’s birthday, this is the day when everyone grows one year older. This is also another day to eat the tossed raw fish salad. This is more commonly practiced among the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia.
The next big day is the ninth day of Chinese New Year. This day is for most Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven in the Taoist Pantheon. Prayers are offered because it is suppose to be the birthday of the Jade Emperor. This celebration is commonly known or said as “Pai Ti Kung” in the Hokkien dialect. On the midnight of the ninth day of Chinese New Year, the Hokkien community will offer thanksgiving prayers to the Jade Emperor. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkien people from certain extermination generations ago. Incense, tea, fruit, vegetarian food or roast pig, and paper gold is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person in the afterlife.
The closure of the Chinese New Year festivities is the fifteenth day of Chinese New Year. This day is celebrated as “Yuan Xiao Jie”, otherwise known as ‘Chap Goh Meh’ in Cantonese dialect. Rice dumplings, “Tang Yuan”, a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, is eaten on this day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home. This day is celebrated as the Lantern Festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns. These lanterns differ from those of Mid Autumn Festival in general. They will be red in colour and tend to be oval in shape. These are the traditional Chinese paper lanterns. Those lanterns, used on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year for the Lantern Festival, are bright, colourful, and in many different sizes and shapes. This day usually marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.
Report made by,
JOHN FUNG aka Dark Angel
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