History of Chinese New Year

posted in: Holidays | 0

The Chinese New Year is Tuesday, February 5th and we will celebrate the afternoon before.

This is the year of the pig.

The holiday is tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar and seen as a time to honor household and heavenly deities as well as ancestors. This is also a time when family comes together to feast and celebrate.

In 1912, China adopted the Western calendar and celebrated New Year’s Day on January 1st.  Today the Chinese New Year is called the spring festival in China.

Traditionally New Year’s is the most important festival on the calendar for the Chinese. Business life comes to a halt during this time and the focus is on the home and family.

In Chinese culture, cleaning is an important element to please the gods coming down from heaven to make inspections at the time of year.

During the first five days of the New Year, people eat long noodles to symbolize long life.

On the last day of the New Year, round dumplings in the shape of the full moon are shared as a sign of the family unit. 

One popular tradition is for the eldest members of the family to give red envelopes with money to the children.

This is the year 4726-4727 on the Chinese Calendar.

Pictures courtesy of Pixabay.com

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