What is Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year is an annual celebration marking the start of the new year according to the chinese lunisolar calendar. Chinese New Year always falls in the months of January or February, and each chinese new year is represented by 1 of the 12 creatures of the Chinese Zodiac – 2013 is the year of the Snake.
Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, and in pre-modern times it would signal to farmers in China that they must begin preparation for the sowing of their fields.
There are several variations on the mythology behind Chinese New Year celebrations. Most are based on a ugly bloodthirsty monster named Nian that would emerge on the last night of each year to destroy villages and eat people. A wise elder advised villagers to scare the monster away with loud noises. That night, they set fire to bamboo, lit fireworks, and banged their drums. The monster, afraid of the loud noises and lights, ran away to hide in its cave.
In another version of the myth, an old man persuaded Nian to turn its wrath on other monsters, not the villagers. Before he was seen riding away on Nian, the old man, actually a god, advised the people to hang red paper decorations in their homes and set off firecrackers on the last night of the year to keep Nian away.
On the first day of the new year, the villagers celebrated, greeting each other with the words “Guo Nian” which means “survive the Nian”, a tradition that has continued to this day to mean “celebrate the new year.”
Gong Xi Fa Ca! (“wishing you prosperity”, traditional CNY greeting in Mandarin.)
h/t Public Holidays Malaysia & EarthSky
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