Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is one of most important festival in China, this year we celebrate it on 5th of February. And it is not very easy to make a proper New Year celebration, there’re lots of things you have to do.
Cleaning
Two days before the New Year people will clean the inside and outside of the house, wipe the glass clean, wash the table and chair. If the weather is nice, take the pillowcase out and wash it. The cleaning of the New Year can also be called sweeping the dust, referring past bad habits and then welcome the New Year with new look.
Couplet
Every Spring Festival, every household will buy a pair of new Spring Festival couplet on the door. Pair of couplet is two successive lines of meter in poetry, in Spring Festival it is often written on some pieces of red papers. What it is all about, here’s an example translated from Chinese: the top couplet is ‘Flourishing in four seasons’, the left is ‘May you have good luck in everything’, the right couplet is ‘May you and your family content and healthy’.
Reverse the word “福”
Some people will reverse the word “福”, you pronouns it “fu” means good luck. When you put it upside-down, “fu”is upside-down, sounds like good luck is arriving in Chinese. This custom has been traditional for a long time.
4. Firecrackers
The custom of setting off firecrackers has spread since ancient times. Legend says that during the Spring Festival, there’s a kind of monster coming to make troubles, this monster is named ‘nian ’(means year). So each and every family will prepare firecrackers to scare the monster.
Saying Happy New Year
Every New Year you have to say happy New Year to your relatives, if not the relatives will soon get away from you. If you think that you won’t have enough time because there are too many people, then don’t worry because there’s a sequence. The first day of New Year is meant to be with your own family (like husband, children), the next day with your parents, the third and the fourth are for seeing your cousins, the fifth is for meeting your friends.
Lucky money (red packets)
The most indispensable part of New Year is the lucky money. It doesn’t depend on how much you give, as long as you are willing to give it. It is often 100 Yuan (1500 din), if the economic conditions are good, it can be 500 Yuan (7500 din). It is always an older person that gives to a younger person, and every time the children are the happiest at this time.
7. Special purchases for the Spring Festival
Do a Spring Festival shopping in order to send the special purchase for Spring Festival to all your friends. It may includes: Chinese sausages, preserved meats, seeds, peanuts, pistachio nuts, cashew, jelly, beef jerky, lollipop … You always give these special purchases to relatives when saying Happy New Year or after a dinner, and this is also the time you get lucky money.
At the end, sit with your family to have a dinner, I wish you a Happy New Year！！！
