What is chinese new year? When is the Chinese New Year celebrated?

Spring Festival (Lunar Festival), China's world-famous biggest traditional holiday, is celebrated every year on a date determined according to the Chinese Calendar. In the Chinese Year, which will enter the Year of the Rabbit this year, celebrations are held with special red ornaments and giant dragon models, and there is a festive atmosphere.

Chinese New Year celebrations

Unlike the rest of the world, China celebrates its new year on January 22. The date of the day, which is considered as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, which is calculated according to the 12 animal calendar, changes every year. Accordingly, the feast is celebrated between the first new moon and the full moon of each year. In the new year celebrated in all countries of Asia, especially in China, this year the year of the Rabbit has started.

Taking advantage of this long holiday, Chinese people flock to their hometowns, causing almost the largest migration in the world. Although there have not been very crowded celebrations due to the coronavirus pandemic in recent years, when we look at the 415 million tourists traveling in 2019, we see that it deserves the name "great migration" to the fullest.

During the two-week celebrations, when all workplaces and markets are closed, even some lines in public transportation are not working, families come together to pass the time during this long New Year holiday, when all of Asia takes a break from work. Dumplings, which are believed to bring good luck, and many other traditional dishes are eaten, and large parades are held. Acrobats, puppeteers, calligraphers and many artists display their skills in the celebrations where all streets and avenues are red.

Chinese New Year Legend

Based on mythology, the legend of the Chinese New Year begins with the defeat of a monster named Nian. When Nian, who appeared once a year and attacked the city, the people were forced to stay in their homes. The Chinese people realized that Nian was afraid of red and fire and started to hang red papers and red ornaments in their homes.

Parade

Seeing this, Nian also ran away. In various sources, it is told that Nian was frightened with firecrackers and driven away from the city. With the gathering of all these legends, the Chinese New Year became a festival celebrated with red ornaments and fireworks.

How to Celebrate Chinese New Year

Home cleaning

The Chinese who go to their hometown before the start of the Chinese New Year, start by cleaning their homes, which is very important for them to enter the New Year in a clean house. They pay more attention to this cleaning than they do throughout the year. Because to the Chinese, dust means bad luck, especially in the new year.

New Outfits

It is also the custom of the Chinese to buy new clothes to be worn on the feast. According to the 12-animal Chinese calendar, those born in the year of the animal next year, in other words, those who will step one of the ages of 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84,96 next year, will definitely buy red underwear, socks, etc. and they wear them. The meaning of red in China is abundance and fertility.

Grocery Shopping

During Chinese New Year, most of the shops, markets, stores and even supermarkets are closed for at least 3-4 days. For this reason, many Chinese go to the markets and do groceries before the holidays begin.

Words Pasted on Doors

Before the Chinese New Year, most of the Chinese paste three aphorisms, one horizontal and two vertical, on the outside of their house doors. In ancient times, these writings were written by themselves using brush and ink; but now they prefer to buy these words from the market. In the middle of these writings, they put the Chinese character, which is large, which means abundance and fertility in Chinese and is read as "Fu".

Last Day of the Year

The Chinese say the last day of the year "Whatever you do, wherever you are, be at home with your family on the last day of the year." they summarize. Indeed, today is a day when the density in cities is very low, especially in the afternoon, and everyone is at home.

For this meal, everyone goes to their parents' house and eats their dinner there. Married couples usually go to the man's family's house this evening.

Chinese New Year Celebration Dinner

It is considered the most important dinner of the year. This dinner is held at the home of the eldest of the family. The number of meals made is definitely a few more than the total number of people. In fact, it is tried to cook as many meals as the numbers whose pronunciation is similar to words such as abundance and happiness.

There is definitely a chicken dish and a fish dish in the meal. It is believed that the combination of chicken and fish is very good. Apart from these, Chinese dumplings are also indispensable. It can be said that the ravioli represents wealth because the ravioli resembles ancient Chinese coins. In some regions, small coins are placed inside the ravioli. It is believed that those who come across a ravioli with money while eating will have a lucky year.

Fireworks

Fireworks are an essential part of the Chinese New Year. There are so many fireworks in China that they can turn non-Chinese people off from the joy of fireworks. Fireworks, which are detonated by almost everyone at all hours of the day, are most intense just before dinner and at 12 o'clock at night. Even after 12 o'clock, it is possible to hear the sounds of fireworks until the first light of the day.

Representing happiness and the expulsion of evil spirits in general, fireworks have been banned for many years in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and the ban is being extended every year to cover more regions. The main reason for this is that fireworks cause very serious air pollution.

Red Packages

Perhaps the part that makes the Chinese the happiest. In this part, the older ones give money to the younger ones in red packets.

In China, which has managed to integrate the cashless life into life to a large extent, many people send electronic red packets to each other using their smartphones. For this, WeChat is the most used application, as can be expected. People who want to send packages to their friends determine the amount they want to send and wait for their friends to open these packages after sending the packages. Friends who see the package early open the package and allow some money to be transferred to their accounts.

New Year's Gala

Every year, on the last day of the year, at 8 pm, the New Year's gala program starts on television and this program continues until midnight. The Chinese show great interest in the gala, where there are various dance performances, sketches and songs. So much so that in China, which has a population of 1 billion 300 million, around 800 million people watch this gala live every year.