January 26th, 2009 begins the Year of the Ox. The Ox symbolizes prosperity through fortitude and hard work. Those born under the influence of the Ox are fortunate to be stable and persevering. The typical Ox is a tolerant person with strong character. Not many people could equal the resolution and fearlessness that the Ox exhibits when deciding to accomplish a task. Ox people work hard without complaints at work or at home.
Chinese New Year, also known as the Chinese Lunar New Year or the Chinese Spring Festival, is one of the traditional Chinese holidays. Gong Xi Fa Cai is the most popular greeting this time of the year, which means "Congratulations and be prosperous."
Unlike the Western New Year, whereby the year always beings on January 1st, China uses the lunisolar Chinese calendar to determine Chinese New Year dates. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culture (i.e. Vietnam, Japan and Korea). In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second (or rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice. In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.
The Chinese New Year is celebrated internationally, and is considered to be the most important holiday for the Chinese, as well as other ethnic groups (i.e. the Mongolians, Koreans, the Miao and the Vietnamese) who were influenced by Chinese culture in terms of religion, philosophy, language and culture. Chinese New Year is also the time of year when the largest human migration takes place-Chinese in China and around the world return home on Chinese New Year Eve.
Before the New Year comes, people typically clean inside and outside of their homes, as well as their clothes, pajamas and all their utensils. Door panels are pasted with Spring Festival couplets (with black Chinese calligraphy on red paper). Wishes for a bright future or good luck for the New Year are common themes. Pictures of the god of doors and wealth are often posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance.
A common character seen on door couplets it the Chinese character “fu” (meaning blessing or happiness). The character is typically hung upside down-the reason being that in Chinese, the “reversed fu” is synonymous with “fu comes," both being pronounced as “fudaole.” It is also common to see large red lanterns on each side of front doors.
Chinese New Year Eve is a very important date to the Chinese. On this night, families gather to visit and have dinner to celebrate the holiday. Dishes such as chicken, fish and noodles are commonly served, as well as tangerines and oranges. A whole chicken represents family unity, fish (especially one served whole) represents abundance and prosperity, noodles represent longevity, and tangerines and oranges offer luck and wealth. After dinner, families visit, most staying up to see in the New Year.
Traditional New Year’s Day breakfast in northern China consist of jiaozi (dumplings) for breakfast, as they think “jiaozi” in sound means “bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new”. Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China- people eat them and wish for money and treasure. A typical breakfast in Southern China consists of niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour), as in sound, niangao means “higher and higher, one year after another.” The first five days after the Spring Festival is a time for relatives, friends, classmates and colleagues to exchange greetings and gifts.
On New Year’s Day, it is common for children and unmarried members of the family to receive money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper (Hong Bao). Burning fireworks is the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. It is thought that the loud, banging sounds of the firecrackers help drive away evil spirits. Other customary festivities include dragon and lion dancing, and festivals. The Chinese New Year or Spring Festival comes to an end with a lantern festival.
We will be celebrating CNY in conjunction with Alina Jayne’s 4th birthday party on January 31st, and you can bet my camera will be smoking! This year it will be a casual event-a combination pizza party with the grandparents for Alina Jayne’s birthday, and CNY-with some appetizers of dumplings, shrimp, Chinese sugar donuts and oranges. So while we will not have all of the traditional CNY foods, we will have some. It is important to acknowledge as many Chinese holidays as we can, especially the big ones. Luckily, Alina Jayne’s b-day is always close to CNY. We can’t wait until we can start celebrating ETHIOPIAN holidays too!
