Chinese New Year Customs

Chinese New Year activities are colorful and diverse, window cuttings, writing Spring Festival couplets, sticking New Year's paintings, hanging lanterns, setting off firecrackers, wrapping dumplings, observing the New Year, paying homage to the New Year, one by one, the customs, which gave birth to China's unique "New Year's flavor". Let's take a look at it

1, posting the word "Fu":

The Spring Festival posting "Fu" is a long-standing folk custom. Every Spring Festival, every family should be in the house door, wall posted on the large and small "Fu" character. The word "Fu" is now interpreted as "happiness", while in the past it meant "good fortune" and "good luck". The Chinese character "福", posted on the Spring Festival, both in the present and in the past, is a symbol of people's desire for a happy life and their wish for a better future. Folk in order to more fully reflect this yearning and wish, simply will "Fu" word upside down sticker, said "happiness has been down (to), fortune has been down (to)".

2, posting Spring Festival couplets:

Spring Festival couplets, also known as couplets, peach symbols, is a unique form of literature in China, which can use short words to express profound meaning. According to research, the folk custom of posting Spring Festival couplets started in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. The earliest prototype of the Spring Festival couplets was the "Peach Symbol", which was used to drive away filth and evil spirits, and evolved several times, resulting in the current Spring Festival couplets.

Posting Spring Festival couplets is a traditional custom in China, and every time the New Year comes, no matter where you are, every family will post couplets. Chinese folk say that there are gods must be posted, every door must be posted. Couplets on the door, is the face of a family, special attention, or lyrical, or write the scene, rich in content, wonderful words. In some places, people will also post the door god, meaning to ward off evil spirits and disasters, welcome auspiciousness and good fortune, symbolizing everyone's wishes and hopes for a better year, but also to create a joyful atmosphere for the arrival of the new year.

3, hanging lanterns:

Lanterns originated in the Western Han Dynasty, in ancient times, the conditions of the family will usually hang lanterns used for lighting, but the red lanterns are usually hung during the Spring Festival. In traditional Chinese culture, red lanterns are considered to have the auspicious symbol of Hong (red) Luck. Every year during the Spring Festival, people hang lanterns in front of their doors to symbolize family reunion and a red-hot life, and don't take them down until after the Lantern Festival to create a festive atmosphere for the Spring Festival.

Lanterns are closely linked to Chinese life, and are found in temples and living rooms everywhere. Lanterns are full of symbolism, and the warm atmosphere of the festival not only overflows in every house, but also fills the streets and alleys. The lanterns hung on Chinese New Year are filled with auspicious patterns and words of blessing. The color of the lanterns is usually red, and red is the same color as vermillion, which is a very effective treasure in feng shui culture to drive away evil spirits and disasters, and is very popular among people.

4, wear new clothes:

This is related to our ancient farming society, in the past, especially in the Yellow River Basin, a year of farming, that is, to the end of the year to summarize, only a little salary, unlike the present can buy new clothes at any time, and therefore to the beginning of the New Year, we have to be all renewed, from the inside to the outside there is a new weather.

So when you wear new clothes on New Year's Day, the clothes are very much like the spring scrolls that you wear on your body to celebrate the spring. This wearing new clothes is also to ward off evil spirits, it is to drive away evil spirits and bring down good luck such a symbol in it. Whether rich or poor, at the time of the New Year, he had to wear new clothes on New Year's Day.

5, eat New Year's dinner:

New Year's dinner, also known as the New Year's dinner, reunion dinner, etc., refers to the end of the year on New Year's Eve of the family meal. New Year's dinner is the main event of the Spring Festival every year, not only colorful, but also has a lot of meaning. Some places eat dumplings, to send the New Year "reunion", "complete" the good wishes; some places eat rice cakes, meaning all the best year after year.

6, eating dumplings:

Eating dumplings was originally a northern custom, eating dumplings on New Year's Eve has a "new year," the meaning of the word, is for a year of good luck. Now a lot of people in the south, also joined the ranks of eating dumplings, are to take a year of good luck good intentions. During the Spring Festival, folk should eat dumplings, meaning "send off dumplings to meet the wind face". Dumplings are eaten on the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, as well as on the first, fifth and seventh days of the Lunar New Year. Some people put sterilized coins into the dumplings, and whoever eats them first will have good luck in the new year.

7, the New Year's Eve:

New Year's Eve is one of the most important Chinese New Year's Eve customs, which was recorded in the Western Jin Dynasty. The New Year's Eve vigil is also known as the "New Year's Eve", in which every family eats a reunion dinner and keeps an all-night vigil, waiting for the moment of resignation and welcoming the arrival of the new year.

One night is a double year, and five nights are two years. In folklore, every New Year's Eve, the Spring Festival, "Sneak" came to earth, specializing in touching the sleeping children's brains, where the "Sneak" touched the children, will become demented crazy fools. In order to prevent the "Sneaky" from harming the children, every New Year's Eve this day, everyone will light oil lamps or charcoal fires all night long, play with the children, do not allow them to sleep, which at that time it was called "guarding the Sneaky". Later, people felt that mentioning the monster "Sneaky" was bad luck, and because "year" and "Sneaky" are homophonic, so it was slowly called "Shou Sneaky

The ancient Chinese name of "守岁" is "守岁", which means "to keep watch over the year".

In ancient times, there were two kinds of symbolism: the older people to keep the year, there is the meaning of cherishing time; young people to keep the year, is to extend the life of parents.

Today, after the reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, everyone will sit in front of the TV and watch the Spring Festival Gala, counting down together to welcome the New Year, and when the clock strikes zero, each family will set off fireworks and firecrackers to celebrate the arrival of the new year.

8, firecrackers:

Firecrackers, also known as firecrackers, is the traditional folk custom of the Spring Festival, has a history of more than two thousand years. When the midnight cross, the New Year bell ringing, the whole of China over the land, the sound of firecrackers ringing through the clouds. In this "year of yuan", "month of yuan", "time of yuan" of the "three yuan" moment, some places also in the The courtyard of the base "Wang Huo", meaning prosperity.

Chinese folk have "open the door firecrackers," that is, the arrival of the new year, families open the door to the first thing is to set off firecrackers to crackle firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new, and hope to meet the wish of good luck and good fortune.

9, New Year's Eve:

New Year's Eve is a traditional Chinese folk custom, is a way for people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, and express their good wishes to each other. China's New Year's Eve style, the Han Dynasty has. The time of the New Year's Eve is usually from the first day to the fifth day of the lunar month. After the eighth day of the waxing moon to visit friends and relatives, mostly regarded as early worship; after the fifth day of the first month to visit friends and relatives, known as the worship of the late New Year.

Today, the form of New Year's Eve is becoming more and more diversified. No matter how the form changes, the theme of holding friends and relatives and expressing good wishes is eternal.

10, to the new year's money:

The origin of the new year's money is early, but the national popularity is in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Pressing the New Year's money was first known as "pressure Sneaky money", according to legend, "Sneaky" is a very scary beast, specializing in small children. In order to prevent children from being harmed, adults came up with a way to put the money under the child's pillow to expel evil spirits.

At that time, the money was not real money, but just something that looked like money. Nowadays, the practicality of New Year's money is gradually strengthened, after the New Year's dinner, the elders will be ready to send the red envelope to the younger generation; the younger generation to the elders to pay tribute to the New Year, the elders will give the children New Year's money. Giving New Year's money reflects the elders' love and care for the younger generation.

The Spring Festival is the beginning of the four seasons and represents the hope of the new year. Every year's endeavor begins with the New Year. Every year's endeavor is to make life more fulfilling.