Everything you need to know about preparing for Chinese new year
Chinese New Year (新年), Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar.
Preparing for the Chinese new year
Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the New Year. So make preparations at least a few days before the New Years.
Clean the house
Deep clean every nook and cranny, do all the laundry and throw out any rubbish. Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the New Year
Clean the ancestral altar
Carefully clean the ancestral altar, discard all the leftover incense sticks from the incense pot. (I found a rabbit shaped eraser on the altar- will be having words with the kids!)
Go shopping
Get rid of any old unwanted damaged clothes and buy some new clothes for the New Year. In with the new and out with the old.
Get a hair cut
Getting a haircut in the first lunar month puts a curse on you, like cutting your life short. Therefore, people get a haircut before the New Year's Eve
Prepare lucky red envelopes (紅包)
At Chinese New Year, it's tradition to give a bright, beautiful red envelope (known as 紅包, hóngbāo) to your friends and family. The red color symbolizes good luck and prosperity in Chinese culture. The amount put inside is totally up to you.
Prepare lucky red decorations and couplets
Chinese New Year couplets are two antithetical poetic lines that are complementary to each other in form and meaning. The couplets are often used to decorate doors and express hopes and happiness for the coming year. You can also make your own Chinese new year decorations. A fun activity with the kids.
Chinese New Year Eve
Chinese New Year's Eve or Lunar New Year's Eve is the day before the Chinese New Year. Celebrating Chinese New Year’s Eve has always been a family matter in China, it is the reunion day for every Chinese family where every effort is made to return home for a family meal
Although my parents were usually okay if us siblings were too busy to make it home for the reunion dinner.
Offerings to our ancestors 辭年
We prepare the following in preparation to the after ceremony of Ci Nian.
This consists of 5 bowls of rice and chopsticks, Chinese New Year cake, a whole chicken, and pork belly. (Salt is sprinkled on top of the rice and pork for flavour). 3 tea cups and 5 wine cups (三茶五酒).
In the afternoon of the Lunar New Year’s Eve, the ceremony of “ci nian” (Traditional Chinese: 辭年, which means to bid farewell to the old year) will be held by offering food and joss money to the Heaven, the family gods, the ancestors and finally to the wandering souls (passed away souls of former residents who died without family, not receiving a proper funeral and hence still protecting the household's property) and Taoist gods of the property like Tu Di Gong.
We start by pouring the 3 cups of tea and 5 cups of wine, and then lighting 3 incense and 2 red candles. We offer prayers and good luck phrases and once the red candle burns about half way we offer a second round of wine in each glass (top up), then again when the red candle nearly finishes burning, followed by burning the money offerings.
Once the offerings have finished burning and the candles and incense finish burning we pour a bit of each wine from each wine glass into the ashes of the incinerator where we had burned the offerings and then we put the cups and food offerings back onto the ancestral altar.
The family gather to have a family banquet whilst enjoying the Chinese New Year Gala on TV (we usually watch the Hong Kong TVB Chinese new year Gala)
It is a fun day filled with eating and entertainment.
It's always fun watching the Taoist priests read out our fortunes for the year based on our lunar animal.
Taboos
On Chinese New Year's Eve, all cleaning tools such as brooms, mops, dusters must be put away. Chinese people clean on Chinese New Year's Eve as they believe that if they do sweep or dust on New Year's Day, their good fortune will be swept away. If you MUST clean during Chinese New Year, there is a special way to do the cleaning where the cleaning begins at the door, the dust and rubbish are swept to the middle of the room, then placed in the corners and not taken until the fifth day. This way we are not sweeping OUT any luck but sweeping any luck inwards towards the house.
During the new year period, the use of scissors, knives, and other sharp objects is avoided. The Chinese believe that sharp objects will cut your stream of wealth and success for the year. So usually sharp objects are also put away on Chinese New Year Eve.
15 Day Chinese New Year Celebrations
The 15-Day Celebration of Chinese New Year Chinese New Year starts with the New moon on the first day of the first lunar month and ends on the Full moon 15 days later
Chinese New Year Day (Day 1) 初壹
Traditionally on this day, fireworks and firecrackers are set off in China but this isn't possible here in the UK so usually on this day we give/receive red envelopes containing lucky money and extend our Chinese New Years greetings to friends and family. The oldest and most senior members will be visited, the visits serve to strengthen family ties. Bài nián 拜年 refers to both, pay a New Year's call as well as 'wishing somebody a Happy New Year
Abstaining from meat consumption on the first day is believed to enhance longevity. Additionally, a vegetarian dish helps to purify and cleanse out the body as well as it honors a Buddhist tradition that nothing living should be killed on the first day of the New Year. So on this day we enjoy a vegetarian meal.
Taboos
On Chinese New Year's day do not do the following:
Wash your hair- you will wash away your luck
Sweep the floor or throw out garbage - you will be sweeping and throwing away your wealth and luck (instead sweep the rubbish from the door to the middle of the room then into a bag to be thrown out on the fifth day.
Don't use sharp objects or knives - you will be cutting away at your wealth (everything is about money I know)
Don't hurry your partners out of bed. In the old society, men were the dominant breadwinners. The first day of the new year symbolises the start, so if the wife/partner wakes up the husband, that symbolises he will be a pushover in his career and daily life
Don't argue and don't scold – Do not scold your children or your spouse. If you are arguing on the first day, you will argue for the rest of the year.
Don't eat meat on the first and 15th day of the new year, go vegetarian. (This is to ensure a long and happy life). On the 15th day is the first full moon of the lunar new year.
Day 2 初二
On this day we again make offerings to our ancestors and Tsai Sun 財神; the God of Wealth is believed to leave for heaven on this day of the lunar New Year so this ceremony is to see the deity off, wishing for a luckier and more prosperous year. In honor of the deity, people will eat dumplings, resembling the shape of a ingot
Traditionally married women will visit and pay respect to their birth parents on the second day.
Day 3 & Day 4 初三/初四
As a sign of respect, families who had an immediate relative deceased in the past 3 years will not visit anyone's house. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead. Some people conclude it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all, as it is believed that evil spirits roam the earth this day and hence it would be bad luck to be outdoors. (My parents stuck to the stay at home rule on day 3 and 4)
Day 5 初五
The day is the birthday of the God of Wealth Tsai Sun 財神 and hence respect is payed to the god. Also, just in case the God of Wealth should pay a visit to the family's house, it is wise to stay home but if you need to pop out, to keep it short..
Sweeping the floor is not considered bad luck anymore and so on this day you can clean and throw out the rubbish from the last 4 days.
Day 6 初六
The sixth day should be used to visit temples, relatives and friends.
Day 7 初七
In Chinese mythology mankind was created on this day, so this day is the birthday of humanity. On this day, people will use seven kinds of vegetables and rice to make porridge in celebrating their birthday.
Day 8 - Day 14 初八 - 十四
These days are used to visit friends and family and just enjoy the new year celebrations.
Day 15 十五 Lantern Festival 元宵節
The 15th day marks the first full moon after the Spring Festival and of the New Year also known as the Lantern festival day.
On this day we eat special sweet dumplings called yuanxiao resembling the shape of the full moon. These round balls are made of glutinous rice flour stuffed with sugar fillings, symbolizing reunion.
Yuanxiao are also called tāngyuán 湯圓. Tāngyuán literally means "round balls in soup", tāngtuán translates to "round dumplings in soup".
In China, lantern festivals are held where lanterns are displayed but we don't have that here in the UK, but in the last couple of years there has been special lantern light festival events being held around this time for all to enjoy.
Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tian Guan 天官 is the Taoist 'Ruler of Heaven' and the god responsible for good fortune, bestowing wealth and good luck. His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tian Guan likes all types of entertainment, so followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune. On this day our household also make prayers and offerings to the gods and ancestors.
Chinese New Year was very different for my family this year (2021) with my father passing away in December 2020 it meant that we had to skip this years celebrations.
The Chinese New Year was during our 100 days of mourning but even if it wasn't, according to Chinese customs, if you had a death within the year then you have to skip the following years celebrations.
We did however still made the offerings to the Gods and our ancestors on Chinese New Year eve, the second and 15th day. But we were not allowed to visit others homes or give well wishes or red envelopes.
What we also realised during this Chinese New Year was my father being the brilliant chef he was, was always the one and only one in the kitchen cooking up a feast. He was also the one that made all the Chinese new year preparations and did all the ancestral offerings. So this was another reason to start this blog and have all the preparations written down for future generations.
My late father loved to cook and have family gatherings so we will be sure to keep the tradition going for as long as my cooking skills allow me (or we could just order take out?)...
In loving memory of my father
A.S.DO 7th February 1955 - 8th December 2020
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