Spring
Festival
Spring Festival, the traditional Chinese New Year's Day, is China's
most important national holiday. The date of the new year is still
determined by the lunar calendar even though the government of
the Republic of China adopted the international Gregorian calendar
in 1912.
New Year's Day typically occurs
sometime in early spring (February), but in 2001 the new year
is early, falling on January 24.
Almost everyone in China's
cities enjoys at least three days off work to celebrate Spring
Festival, and the celebration lasts even longer in rural areas:
from the eighth day of the last month of the lunar year to the
15th day of the first month of the following lunar year. Rural
residents use this time, following a year's hard work and prior
to the spring planting, to rest and relax as the climate in northern
China is still quite cold.
The Han people (the majority
ethnic group in China, accounting for more than 90 percent of
the population) have a tradition of eating laba -- rice porridge
with beans, nuts and dried fruit -- on the eighth day of the 12th
lunar month. This pastime symbolizes the peasants' wishes for
an abundant harvest and healthy animals. Starting on the 23rd
day of the 12th lunar month people clean their houses, decorate
them with paper cuts and streamers, shop for special Spring Festival
foods and gifts, and begin preparing the New Year's banquet. On
the day before New Year's Day, many families decorate their front
door with a pair of couplets designating good fortune. These couplets
are written in fine calligraphy on long strips of red paper. The
text of the couplets is often taken from famous poems or old sayings,
and the sentiments expressed are for happiness, good health, bumper
harvests, family harmony and prosperity. Special pictures are
placed in different rooms to dispel evil spirits and bring the
family tranquility and happiness throughout the coming year.
Children set off firecrackers,
play games and carry colorful lanterns in hand as they visit friends.
Parents keep busy preparing the New Year's Eve dinner and making
jiaozi -- dumplings with meat and vegetable fillings. In old times,
jiaozi were thought to scare away evil spirits, misfortune and
disease. Today this well-loved dish is as closely associated with
Spring Festival as turkey is with Thanksgiving in the United States.
Chinese have been making jiaozi
for more than 1,600 years, but the preparation of this delicious
food varies by region. One variety is made with fillings of meat,
Chinese cabbage or other vegetables, peanut and sesame oils, with
ginger, green onion and salt for flavoring. Another variety is
filled with eggs and dried shrimp along with Chinese cabbage,
Chinese chives and other flavorings.
On New Year's Day people traditionally
eat dumplings made with egg and shrimp fillings to encourage a
year of peace. Families in some rural areas have a custom of wrapping
a small piece of candy or a coin in one of the dumplings. The
person who eats this dumpling is considered lucky and will have
a happy and prosperous new year.
Following dinner, most families
watch special holiday variety shows on television, which last
well into New Year's Day. Many families stay up very late, some
even stay up all night, laying cards, laughing, chatting, or telling
stories to the children. At midnight a barrage of firecrackers
breaks the silence and after the cocks crow, every family conducts
a New Year's ceremony. Everyone, old and young, dresses in their
best before offering sacrifices to their gods and ancestors. The
reunion meal in northern China consists of jiaozi. Old and young
sit around the dinner table waiting to be served while the women
boil the dumplings. If family members cannot join the reunion
meal, a pair of chopsticks, a cup of wine and a bowl are laid
out for them to symbolize the family's best wishes.
On New Year's Day the children
receive gifts of money in red envelopes from their parents and
grandparents. But, the most popular celebratory activity is young
people expressing wishes of good fortune and health to the family
elders. Other children enjoy visiting with friends, neighbors
and relatives because they are treated with fruits, pastry and
candy while their parents drink tea, wine or beer. The celebratory
climax occurs on the 15th day of the first lunar month during
the Lantern Festival. At night lantern shows or lion dances are
performed, luring visitors to the fun, whether it's in the city
or the countryside.
