2014: Year of the Horse

Happy 2014!

I have spent the last three weeks with my boyfriend Sean who came to visit me in Shanghai. He came three days after Christmas, just in time for the "Western New Years."The Chinese New Year comes at the end of this month (Jan. 31th). This year will be the year of the horse. Sean bought me this cute, stuffed animal of a red horse that street vendors were selling in anticipation for the holiday and it made me realize how little I know about it. I'm doing my research. 

I have received those little red envelopes in the past from some of my Chinese friends and I

know that I was born in the year of the ram (or goat), but that is particularly all I knew about the holiday. That is pretty sad considering that I went to college in San Francisco, which has the largest and oldest Chinatown and Chinese New Year Parade outside of Asia. According to my good old friend Wikipedia, back in 1848, the newly arrived Chinese for the Gold Rush began the parade to teach others about their culture. 

At my weekend school I teach at, I asked my supervisor if people who live in Shanghai celebrate both holidays. She said that they acknowledge the Western New Year as well as the traditional Chinese New Year, but some families celebrate both, while others just celebrate the Chinese New Year, also called the "Spring Festival."

Chinese New Year is celebrated on a different day every year, since it is based off of the lunar calendar, usually it falls sometime between Jan. 21st to Feb. 20th. Although I knew that the Chinese calendar is based off of the moon, I did not realize how the dates in the Chinese calendar differ so much from what is called the "Gregorian Calendar." For instance, some months are repeated twice in one year in the Chinese calendar, according to my supervisor. Wikipedia right now is telling me this is called an "intercalation." This is the insertion of a "day, week, or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases." So, the Chinese calendar has some leap months and days, like the Gregorian one has a leap day once every four years. How do they write and record the double months for the Chinese version? That's my question. 

Wikipedia gives an account of the myth that began Chinese New Year--a beast called Nian:

Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One day people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.

There are traditionally fifteen days of celebration for the Chinese New Year (not practiced by everyone):

Day 1: Welcoming deities of the heaven and the earth. People light fireworks and burn bamboo sticks.

Day 2: Was when married women would visit their birth parents. "God of Wealth" comes.

Day 3: Rural villagers burn paper for the God of Wrath. People should stay home.

Day 4: Spring dinners

Day 5: The God of Wealth's birthday. People shoot off fireworks and eat dumplings.

Day 7: Everyone grows one year older today. 

Day 8: Dinner to celibate the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven. Employees are thanked today. Incense is often burnt and food offerings are made.

Day 9: People offer prayers to the Jade Emperor. Incense, tea, fruit, and roast pig are offered. 

Day 10: Jade Emperor's party.

Day 13: People eat vegetarian food to clean out their stomachs. Businesses pray to the God of War for success. 

Day 15: The Lantern Festival: Families walk with lanterns in the streets and put them outside their houses to guide wayward spirits home. Rice dumplings are eaten.  

The Chinese New Year is mostly a time to celebrate with family and big "reunion" dinners are held featuring mostly meat dishes and food that symbolizes prosperity and good luck. For instance, mandarin oranges have a name that sounds like the word for "good luck," noodles represent a long life, and melon seeds means having many children. Red packets containing money are given as gifts. The amount of money in these should be given in even numbers, because money given at the time of funerals is in odd numbers. This is determined by the first digit. The numbers 6 and 8 are considered the luckiest. Also, fireworks are always set off. In ancient China, gunpowder would be placed in bamboo shoots and lit to create fireworks. 

I will be leaving Hong Kong on Chinese New Year, which means that it will be crazy busy, but I'm still excited. 

For now, here is a common Chinese phrase: 

迎春接福 Yíngchúnjiēfú - "Greet the New Year and encounter happiness"