Since it is still January and since
I get sucked into my own quests for knowledge like no other I am going to
continue on my last blog touching on the history of New Year. This time, I got
to thinking about the Chinese New Year. It is the one different New Year
tradition that the majority of people I run into have at least heard of –
whether it be to know what year they were born in or the festival surrounding
it, this ancient tradition has captured the attention of many people the world
over.
Since 1912, China as a country has
celebrated the calendar New Year on December 31st – January 1st
with the majority of the world. The Chinese New Year is not a set calendar
date, and is still celebrated today as Spring Festival, starting on the first
new moon of the New Year and ending 15 days later on the full moon. The Chinese New Year is always on a different
day, since it is based on a combination of the lunar and solar scheduled
movements. This causes an extra month to be added in every few years – the
equivalent to our leap years. There is a lot of history and tradition seeped
into every aspect of the actual Chinese New Year ceremonies, from religious
ceremonies to all of Heaven and Earth to recognizing the ancestors and all
their sacrifice (family specific).
The ancestor portion of the
ceremonies is usually the most significant, and is celebrated with a feast
dedicated to them on the Chinese New Year’s Eve known as weilu (surrounding the
stove). This weilu is a symbol of all the current and past generations of a
family, and is meant to promote unity and honor within those generations for
the upcoming year. Along with the deep traditions and religious implications of
the Chinese New Year, there are many rituals and superstitions followed by the
culture. For instance, the house should be completely and thoroughly cleaned
before New Year’s Day, with all cleaning equipment and materials put away on
New Year’s Eve. Then, after, you can sweep the floors beginning at the door, to
the middle then to the corners, and not removed until the fifth day of the New
Year, and never trampling on the piles. When taken out, it must go out the back
door – this is due to an ancient belief that anything going out before this
will be sweeping one of the family away, and to take anything out the front is
to take away the good fortune or luck of the family.
Also, at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s
Eve, every door and window should be open to let the old year leave and the New
come. No cursing, no unlucky words should pass your lips, nor should anything
about dying, death or ghosts, the past year or crying….as whatever passes will
come to you in abundance that year. Do not wash your hair or you wash away good
luck, red is a good bright color that is seen to welcome good fortune. Knives or
scissors are avoided as they can cut good fortune. There are many more
traditions that many may not believe in any longer but that are still done out
of the view that these traditions are what connect the past with the present
and the future.
The coming Chinese New Year is to
begin on January 31, 2014 and the upcoming year is the year of the horse…and
that is something that is a blog in and of itself, the year of and etc…so,
until next time.
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