As you know, last week was CNY / Chinese New Year. Although I already talked about this, I am going to explain Chinese New Year much more deeper as it is one of my favourite things to discuss about and is also my favourite event.
So what exactly is CNY? 🏮
So basically Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year or Tết if you are Vietnamese is based on the first day in the Lunar Calendar. It is situated between late January until early February.
Lets talk about traditions.
You might've heard about red pockets or red envelopes 红包, they are envelopes which are filled with money and is usually given to children and/or unmarried relatives.
We usually hang a cutout of the letter 褔 upside down as the character means luck and by hanging upside down it will mean that luck will come to our household.
We also like do eat dumplings as it looks like ancient gold and silver ingots - we bring in wealth by eating them.
We also like to eat noodles as they symbolize longevity as noodles are long (long living)
Why the colour red you might ask. Well red is believed to be a very lucky colour as there was a tale in ancient China which is about a beast that feeds on people - Here is how the story goes -
Long ago in the mountains, there lived a monstrous demon creature named Nian (年). On the first day of the year, the creature would wake up and descend from the dark sea upon the village. He would eat all grain and cattle until none was left to be found.
Things changed in one New Year's Eve. An strange old man with silver hair but bright piercing eyes was welcomed to the village. He turned out to be a god and told the villagers that the monster Nian was afraid of these three things: The colour scarlet, fire and noise.
One night when Nian was spotted coming for the village, the villagers had finished painting their houses red, and stayed up all night long making noises. They wore red clothing, burn bamboo to make a loud cracking sound ( which leads to firecrackers) and light up candles. The monster was scared for life and he ran back where he was never to be seen again.
The next morning the villagers were happy and had a big celebration. After that, every New Year's Eve, people did as the old man instructed. The celebration has been continued until this generation and has become and important way to celebrate the arrival of the new year.
There are 12 Chinese zodiac animals used to represent years. In order they are, rat
(鼠—shǔ), ox
(牛—niú), tiger
(虎—hǔ), rabbit
(兔—tù), dragon (龙—lóng), snake (蛇—shé), horse (马—mǎ), goat (羊—yang), monkey (猴—hóu), rooster (鸡—jī), dog (狗—gǒu), and pig (猪—zhū). This year is the year of the pig.
A legend goes that the Jade Emperor needed to choose 12 animals to be his palace guards. The Cat asked his neighbour Rat to help him sign up. Rat forgot, which is why they became enemies.
As the Rat was clever he rode the animals that were racing and jumped from one to another. Alas there was a river, he asked the Ox to ride atop of him as he couldn't crossed the river. The Ox then agreed. But then as the finishing line was in the edge of the river, the Rat jumped from the Ox and finished in first place.
Finishing the discussion, you might wonder how can I know these? Well I love Chinese and Japanese art and culture and that's why.
