Chinese New Year is a Chinese holiday celebrated at the turn of the Chinese calendar. Another name for the festival is spring festival because it is celebrated between January 21 and February 20. Chinese New Year is celebrated in many countries and territories with great Chinese populations such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mauritius, and the Philippines. The celebrations of Chinese New Year include family reunion dinners, decorating the windows and doors with red paper-cuts and couplets with themes of good fortune, health, and longevity. Some other traditions are to light fire crackers and to give and receive money in red envelopes. There are also many colorful parades that take place on Chinese New Year.
The Chinese year 4713 began on February 19, 2015. It is said that Chinese New Year originated during the Shang Dynasty which is 1766 BC-1122 BC but it is still unclear what the dates are exactly.
According to tales and legends there was a mythical creature called the "Year". On New Year's Eve the beast would come out and harm people. The only way to scare away the "Year" was to be loud, bright and red because the creature was afraid of those things. From then on it became a tradition to light fireworks, and decorate with the color red. Fireworks are lit on New Year's Eve to celebrate the coming year, and to scare away the evil. It is said that the first person to light the fireworks will obtain good luck.
Chinese New Year was traditionally the most important festival on the Chinese calendar. It was originally a time to honor deities and ancestors. The Chinese New Year dinner is very large and normally includes dumplings, chicken and pork. Traditionally there is also a fish served but internationally it is not finished to bless the new year.
The lantern festival is another celebration of Chinese New Year that takes place on the 15th day of the lunar month. To celebrate, people carry lanterns at the festival at which there is a famous dragon dance. Children also carry the paper lanterns to temples at night to solve riddles on the lantern. In ancient times these lanterns were very simple, yet now everyone is able to have ornately decorated ones. They are almost always red ones to symbolize good fortune. In Hong Kong the lantern festival is like Valentine's Day.
Over all, Chinese New Year is a very valuable and important holiday that showcases Chinese culture worldwide.
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Wow good job Paolina! I love your writing style because you get right to the point without stating an obvious opinion. That's a good way to write because it give the reader an open mind.
ReplyDeleteOh and also I thought it was interesting how we in America still celebrate it just as much with parties and celebrations.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Paolina. I found it interesting that Chinese New Year is so popular in the west yet it is one of the most traditional Chinese holidays. I think you wrote a well rounded essay.
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