Chinese New Year 2013: Year of the Snake
February 1, 2013 2 Comments
Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is known as 'Spring Festival', the literal translation of the Chinese name 春節 (Pinyin: Chūnjié), In ancient China, the spring festival started since "lichun" for the reason that spring season in Chinese calendar starts with lichun (February 4 or 5), the first solar term in a Chinese calendar year. It marks the end of the winter season, analogous to the Western Carnival. Since 1913, Chinese national government determined the festival begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: Zhēngyuè) in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as Chúxī (除夕), literally "remove evening" or "Eve of the Passing Year." Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year" and Agriculture / Agricultural / Agrarian Calendar's New Year.
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Chinese New Year is celebrated in China and in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, including Hong Kong,[2] Macau,Singapore,[3] Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Mauritius,[4] Philippines,[5][6] and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors.
Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity." On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.
Ashley & Andy are travelling to their home provence (Hunan) by train, (as are 230 million other travellers). This is by far their most beloved time of the year and they will spend it with their family in a little village not served by air and almost impossible to get to except by train. Fireworks will start exploding soon...and not stop for weeks and weeks....all day long and ALL NIGHT LONG sometimes at 4am....just spontaneous explosions....all over this big country...quite amazing.
Mark,
Thanks for your comments.
I wish you and yours a very Happy Chinese New Year.
Sincerely,
Iris