TRADITIONS OF OLD – THE LUNAR NEW YEAR

Flashy decorations, zodiac symbols, and a celebration of food & family. The Lunar New Year signifies the end of the moon’s cycle of orbit around the Earth. While most commonly associated with the Chinese culture, it is also celebrated by the Korean, Vietnamese, Lao and Singaporean communities. This celebration falls between January and February, differing in timing from the commonly recognized Gregorian calendar New Year (January to December). The Lunar New Year symbolizes the wish for starting the new year with prosperity, luck, happiness and health in all participating cultures, even though the specific traditions may differ.

THE CHINESE CELEBRATION

Have you ever wondered what all these decorations, colors and events actually mean? I am of Chinese descent and will give you a look into the traditions of our culture. While every Asian country that recognizes the Lunar New Year has its own customs and traditions, those of the Chinese culture have become synonymous with the commercialized version of the celebration.

Gung Hay Fat Choy in the Cantonese dialect translates into “wishing you prosperity.”

Chinese New Year celebrations last 15 days, beginning with a feast on the eve of the New Year and carrying through to the Spring Lantern Festival. Families gather, either immediate or extended to enjoy conversation, laughter, story-telling and of course for elder family members to tell the kids to “study, work hard, listen to ma-ma and bah-bah,” before handing a red envelope (lei cei). In my family, the sentiment was always delivered just like this, in a combination of English and Chinese. Why? The truth is that I don’t know but I’ve always assumed that it was a natural progression of the family becoming Americanized over the decades.

SUPERSTITIONS

Ask anyone of Asian heritage and they’ll confirm the existence of superstitions. SO. MANY. SUPERSITIONS. Today, they’re hilarious but because they were ingrained into us as children and despite thinking they’re a little wacky, we still abide by them because, I mean, if we don’t,–what if the evil spirits really do come like our grandma said they would? Ack!

  • Cleaning your home before the new year ushers out the dirt, dust and old sentiments of the current year and makes way for a fresh start to the new year.
  • Not cutting anything or using scissors on the day of the New Year is important because you don’t want to cut your life short.
  • Eating a sweet candy as soon as you wake up on the first day of the new year symbolizes sweetness and a good start to the year.
  • Twin tangerines with leaves on the stem, placed in every room of the house represents luck and wealth.
  • Wearing red to start the new year symbolizes luck and is thought to ward off spirits with bad intent.

LIONS AND DRAGONS

In China, there are auspicious lions and dragons. When looking at them, you’ll notice that neither look like the animals we are familiar with today. In fact, the Chinese versions were mythical in design and represent the animal’s characteristics rather than a physical likeness.

Lion – The colorful and fanciful depiction of a lion was said to have originated during the Han Dynasty in Southern China, specifically in the Guangdong Province; formerly known as Canton. A lion symbolizes strength, stability and superiority.

Two dancers are needed – one for the head and one for the body/tail. A lion head is made of paper mache and bamboo, then covered in paint and fur while the body is made of layered, colorful fabric and trimmed with fur.

The dance is performed during the new year as a way to ward off evil spirits and welcome prosperity. It is also common to see them at weddings, business grand openings and other special events. Should the lion come by you, do not be afraid to reach out and delicately touch it. Patting the lion’s head or body is thought to bring you luck! Touching the mouth will ensure that you won’t go hungry. But be warned that touching the tail is bad luck. It is thought that your luck will hit rock bottom – besides, it’s his booty and you shouldn’t touch that anyway.

Dragon – The dragon symbolizes the traits of wisdom, power, excellence, and dominance. A Chinese dragon is carried by 13 – 15 performers and is believed to bring luck. The history of the dragon dates back to the Han Dynasty in Southern China and was used to ward off evil spirits to bring forth prosperity and health. The dance of the dragon will wind its way down the street or around a crowd in a flowing, wave-like motion. Touching the head or body of a dragon is said to be lucky, much like it is with the lion.

WEARING RED & THE CHEONGSAM

Growing up in a Chinese family included wearing red for New Years day. Red is the color of luck and is thought to ward off spirits of bad fortune. If attending a fancy or formal event, it isn’t uncommon to see women wearing a cheongsam (cantonese) or qipao (mandarin) dress. They are made of silk and include the delicate embroidery of a phoenix and dragon, or, peony flowers.

FOODS TO BRING LONG LIFE, GOOD FORTUNE, and LUCK

Oranges and Tangerines – the Chinese words for both fruit resemble “luck” and “wealth” and the gold color of these fruit symbolizes prosperity. You will most often see these in pairs as a ‘double’ of something is also lucky. Tangerines with a set of fresh leaves is commonly seen during the new year.

Buddha’s Delight – A vegetarian dish known as ‘jai’ in Chinese (Cantonese) is a common dish eaten by monks who are vegetarian. Most households grew up with this dish which includes things like lily root, dried bean thread, tofu skin, shitake mushrooms, woodear mushrooms, fried tofu, and mung bean noodles. The recipe behind this dish lives with the generations before me. Many moms and grandmas stay up late and wake early to concoct this dish that we line up for once a year.

Fish – traditionally believed to bring prosperity and wealth because the word for fish is ‘yu’ which sounds very similar to the world ‘surplus’ or ‘plenty left’. Eating fish during the new year, eventually came to represent having a surplus of wealth and prosperity.

Dumplings – as they are believed to look like ancient silver and gold ingots, dumplings of all kinds are eaten in mass because they are thought to bring wealth. Eat as many as you can but don’t get a belly ache doing it!

RED ENVELOPES

Red envelopes (‘lei cei’ in Cantonese), a symbol of wishes for good luck, health and prosperity are traditionally given by parents and married couples to younger children. Occasionally, they are also given to coworkers as well. A few rules for these lucky envelopes are that they should contain money and not candy; dollar amounts shouldn’t add up to a number with a ‘4’ ($4,$40, $44, $400) because ‘four’ sounds similar to the word for ‘death’ in Chinese. Envelopes come with many designs on them, some symbolizing the zodiac animal of that year, some with Chinese characters that wish prosperity and health in the new year. While they are used most commonly during this celebration, you will also see them gifted at birthdays, weddings, when a new baby is born and just about any other occasion that warrants a gift.

When you are given a red envelope, you should receive it with both hands and say ‘do ze’ which is pronounced like ‘doh jeah’ in Cantonese or ‘xie xie’ in Mandarin which sounds like ‘sheh sheh’.

CHINESE ZODIAC

The story of how the Chinese Zodiac came to be used as it is today (to determine birth year quality traits) is somewhat unclear but it is believed that the zodiac was first formed during the Han Dynasty. It consists of 12 auspicious animals that take turns representing the year. The zodiac follows a clockwise motion, repeating every 12 years.

Gung hay fat choy! Happy Lunar New Year! May you have a prosperous, healthy and happy new year!