Why Do Chinese New Year Customs Matter?

The Chinese New Year is an annual 15-day festival celebrated in China and around the world, starting around late January or early February. It lasts for 15 days and involves cleaning up, adhering to specific rituals, visiting etiquette, and food choices. The celebrations traditionally last for 16 days, beginning on New Year’s Eve and ending with the Lantern Festival.

The Lunar New Year is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture, centered around removing the bad and old, welcoming the new and the good, worshipping ancestors, exorcising evil spirits, and praying for good harvest. Today, it is celebrated by Chinese communities outside the country. The festival is rooted in folk stories and ancient mythology, with fireworks and firecrackers used to drive away evil.

The New Year’s Eve dinner is the most important meal for Chinese families, and the festival is comparable to the importance of Christmas in Europe. Family members from near and far travel to be with loved ones in time to usher out the old year and welcome in the new, with great celebratory flourish. Celebrations to usher out the old year and bring forth the luck and prosperity of the new one often include firecrackers, fireworks, and red clothes.

The Chinese New Year is associated with several myths and customs, such as honoring deities and ancestors. Many traditions associated with new year celebrations focus on bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new, family reunions, ancestral gatherings, and cleaning up.

Why is it important to celebrate Chinese festivals?

China’s festivals hold significant significance due to their focus on the Chinese Lunar calendar and deeply ingrained religious and spiritual beliefs. The world’s largest ice and snow sculpture festival, held in Harbin, China, is a winter wonderland with over 100 landmarks. The Spring Festival, the most important festival in the Chinese calendar, celebrates the beginning of a new year over 15 days, featuring festive foods like fish, dumplings, and nian gao, a glutinous rice cake.

To mark the end of the Chinese New Year, towns and cities release a sea of lanterns as a symbol of giving offerings to the gods. Celebrations include traditional dragon dances, stilt walkers, acrobats, float parades, fireworks, and sweet rice snacks, named after the festival. These glutinous rice balls can be sweet with sugar, nuts, flower petals, or salty with a meat or vegetable mixture.

In summary, China’s festivals hold significant cultural and religious significance, with the Spring Festival being the most important event and the lantern festival marking the end of the Chinese New Year.

Why do people clean for Chinese New Year?

Before the start of the new year, Chinese families clean their houses and surrounding areas, as the word “dust” in Chinese is a homophone for “old”, symbolizing the removal of bad luck from the previous year. Couplets, a pair of lines of poetry, are attached to doorways, often written in calligraphy on red paper, to symbolize good wishes. This tradition dates back to the Later Shu State (934-965) and the Song Dynasty.

During the New Year’s Eve celebration, dumplings are eaten across China. In northern provinces, jiaozi, made with flour and filled with coins, peanuts, or sweets, are enjoyed at midnight, symbolizing different blessings. In southern provinces like Guangdong, tangyuan, sweet glutinous rice dumplings, are eaten, symbolizing wealth and prosperity. Jiaozi’s shape resembles the ancient Chinese ingot, a currency used until the 20th century, while tangyuan’s roundness represents family unity and reunion.

What is the importance of ritual in China?

Chinese people use rituals as a means of self-help, often performing rituals rooted in Taoist or Buddhist symbolism at temples or home to dispel bad fortune, cure physical ills, or seek emotional comfort. Studies have shown that bereaved spouses and parents in the United States and China may engage in deliberate grief avoidance. In urban Hong Kong, Chinese death management is influenced by packaging tradition, and a preliminary study of the experience of Chinese bereaved persons reveals meaning-making and continuing bonds. These practices are deeply ingrained in Chinese culture and continue to shape their cultural identity.

Why is it important to teach about Chinese New Year?

Learning about different cultures and celebrations is crucial for young children, as it raises their awareness and acceptance of different traditions. In nursery, children learned about Chinese writing characters, traditional clothing, music, and food. They copied Chinese characters on a mark-making table, observing traditional Chinese clothing and listening to Chinese music. In their home corner, they pretended to use chopsticks and ate from special Chinese bowls, even trying real Chinese food at the snack table. They also learned to say Happy New Year in Mandarin, ‘Kung hei fat choy’. This exposure to different cultures helps children understand and appreciate different traditions and celebrations.

Why is Chinese New Year so significant?

The New Year celebration in China is a time to remove the bad and old, welcoming the new and good. It involves worshipping ancestors, exorcising evil spirits, and praying for good harvest. Today, it’s celebrated by Chinese communities outside the country through activities like lion dance, dragon dance, temple fairs, and flower market shopping. In the run-up to the New Year, people clean their houses, redecorate them with red couplets, lanterns, and new flowerpots, and shop for food for banquet specialities. The New Year is an important family reunion occasion, with tens of millions of people traveling to China’s public transport or private means to return home to be with their loved ones.

Why are traditional rituals important?

Rituals and traditions are crucial in fostering a sense of identity, belonging, and security among generations. A fifty-year review by the American Psychological Association found that family routines and rituals are linked to children’s health, academic achievement, and stronger family relationships. However, disruptions or non-observance can lead to behavioral problems or social/academic challenges. Dr. Barbara H. Fiese, a psychologist involved in the review, explains that rituals involve symbolic communication and provide continuity in meaning across generations.

They often occur during birthdays, celebrations, meals, reunions, extended family gatherings, holidays, and religious observances. Routines can become rituals when they transition from outcome-oriented to symbolic, such as reading a book before bedtime for enjoyment. Ultimately, rituals and traditions play a significant role in shaping a child’s identity and family values.

Why is ritual so important?

The performance of rituals is of great consequence for the empowerment of the individual and the collective, as well as for the resolution of problems, the formation of habits, the acquisition of knowledge, the process of growth, and the establishment of connections. The Winnipeg funeral home is committed to the significance of rituals and the necessity of key rituals for individuals and their families. Such practices facilitate learning, growth, and connection.

Why are festivals and rituals important?

Rituals and festive events are significant aspects of a community’s worldview and history, often held at special times and places. Some events, like initiation rites and burial ceremonies, may be restricted to certain members of the community. However, some events are open to all, such as carnivals and events marking the New Year, beginning of Spring, and end of the harvest. Social practices, which are familiar to all members of the community, shape everyday life and reinforce a sense of identity and continuity with the past.

The 2003 Convention prioritizes distinctive social practices that are relevant to a community and help reinforce a sense of identity. Examples of these practices include informal greeting ceremonies and formal gifts, which can range from casual events to formal arrangements with significant political, economic, or social meanings.

Is it okay to shower on Chinese New Year?

The act of cleansing the face is perceived as an auspicious gesture, believed to symbolize the washing away of fortune and the potential for diminished prosperity in the forthcoming year. Those who adhere to the LNY fundamentalist perspective advise against engaging in personal hygiene activities such as showering on the first day of the lunar new year, using dry shampoo and dusting powder, and cleaning up and disposing of trash before midnight.

What is the significance of the Chinese New Year?

The New Year celebration in China is a time to remove the bad and old, welcoming the new and good. It involves worshipping ancestors, exorcising evil spirits, and praying for good harvest. Today, it’s celebrated by Chinese communities outside the country through activities like lion dance, dragon dance, temple fairs, and flower market shopping. In the run-up to the New Year, people clean their houses, redecorate them with red couplets, lanterns, and new flowerpots, and shop for food for banquet specialities. The New Year is an important family reunion occasion, with tens of millions of people traveling to China’s public transport or private means to return home to be with their loved ones.