Kung Hei Fat Choy

 This term we have been learning about the Chinese New year.

The Chinese New Year is an annual 15 day festival for the Chinese people. The festival includes exotic foods and celebrations for each of the 15 days. Of all the New Year celebrations, the Chinese New Year is the most different to ours.

The Chinese New Year is the main festival for the Chinese men, women and children in the year. It consists of 15 days packed with celebrations and traditions. The lunar calendar is used so that the dates change from year to year. It is usually held in late January or early February. The first day of the festival is held on the first black moon (new moon) of the year.

There are 12 different signs of the zodiac, each one having its own individual qualities. There are monkeys, tigers, dragons, rats and horses, to name a few. You get judged on which animal you are by your D.O.B. Although, if you are a certain animal it doesn’t mean you have the same qualities.

In China there are celebrations and customs that would be looked upon by us as strange and out of the ordinary. They always hide the knives in the house because they believe you should not cut your good luck off. Another of their customs is that of painting the entire door red to ward off the evil Nian. They also give out Hong Bao (a red envelope with gold streaks on it) to the children. These usually contain sweets or money but it is considered rude to open them in front of the person who gifted you with it. At dusk they set off their fireworks and firecrackers to scare off the evil spirits.

Most of their meals in this 15 day period consist of fish, spring rolls and glutinous rice. The most traditional food that is cooked are dumplings. They cook their dumplings in the shape of bars and they hide a coin inside one of the dumplings. It is considered good luck to find the coin.

The Chinese New year is a sacred 15 day celebration. You may think that all of these customs and traditions are strange, but to them it is the most important time in the year.