"The Origin of Chinese New Year"

"The Origin of Chinese New Year"

Chinese New Year is a top priority for Chinese people, and it is also a grand festival. At this moment, people forget the hard work of a year, look forward to the beauty, and enjoy the moment of reunion with their families. The whole family sits together and prays for happiness and good weather in the coming year. Those ceremonial customs also entrust the Chinese people's expectation for a better life and their enthusiastic and positive attitude towards life.

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

The Legend of Nian ("Year")

Chinese people consider the lunar New Year (the Spring Festival) a very important festival, and therefore on that day, however far they have to travel or however busy they are, they try to return home to join other family members for a reunion dinner. The Spring Festival Gala, dumplings, firecrackers, Spring Festival couplets and auspicious paintings all contribute to the festive atmosphere of the lunar New Year's Eve. Every year, all family-lies in China celebrate New Year's Eve, and many related traditions passed down since ancestry have become part of Chinese culture, connecting families, the country and society.

Why is the celebration of the New Year called guonian in Chinese? What is nian? In Chinese folklore, nian is described as a huge and ferocious monster with four feet and four horns, the very thought of which makes one shudder. When heavy snow fell every winter, the beast used to raid a nearby village for food. That frightened the villagers so much that they packed their belongings and hid in a bamboo grove at the end of every 12th lunar month.

One year, on their way to the bamboo grove, the villagers saw a boy who was fainting from hunger. The boy looked to be only seven or eight years old. After a kind-hearted grandmother gave the boy some food, he came round and joined them. When the boy ar-nved at the bamboo grove he found that there was no shelter or food. The adults got busy building shelters out of bamboo and making fires to get warm.

The boy was cutting bamboo stalks when he heard the grown-ups talking about nian. “It's so terrible! They say that it gobbles children up,” someone said.

“I’ve also heard it knows witchcraft and can blow away a house with one puff of breath,” someone else said.

These horrific stories about the monster aroused the boy's curiosity.

"The bamboo grove is not far from the village. Aren't you afraid that the monster will find us here?" he asked.

“It did follow us here once, but it ran away when it saw us cutting bamboo with machetes,” said an elderly person slowly. “That also puzzled us, but anyway we see the bam-boo grove as a safe place.”

Instantly, the boy seemed to have understood something important. He mounted a large rock and shouted to the crowd: “I’ve got an idea, and you won’t have to be afraid of the monster anymore.”

The others were glad to hear this, and they all clustered round the boy.

“Now let’s cut some more bamboo, and we can go back home this evening,” continued the boy. “Then we should hang a piece of red cloth outside each house, and the monster won’t bother us anymore.”

The people were dubious about what the boy had said. Some chose to stay in the grove, while the others returned to the village.

That night, nothing but a strong wind was heard. The villagers hung pieces of red cloth outside their houses. They didn't go to bed; instead, they gathered in the open space in the middle of the village to guard the bamboo they had brought back, for fear of the monster stealing it. They made a fire to warm themselves, and when they got hungry, they had something to eat. At midnight they heard a loud noise. The monster had come!

With fear, the people began to huddle together. The little boy rose to his feet, and said, "I'll go and entice it here, and you put the bamboo in the fire."

The monster was rampaging through the village when the boy arrived at the entrance to the village. With his arms akimbo, the boy shouted at the beast: "You monster! Don't you know that you've made our lives miserable? See how I 'll punish you tonight!"

Heart

Upon hearing these words, the monster followed the boy. But when it saw the pieces of red cloth hung in front of the houses, it didn't dare to enter any of them. Then it followed the boy to the open space where the other villagers were. “Throw the bamboo stalks on the fire,” the boy shouted to the people. The villagers, however, were too frightened to move. The monster lifted the boy into the air with its horns, and then threw him down on the ground. At that moment the villagers started to throw the bamboo stalks on the fire. The wet bamboo produced a cracklingsound, which frightened the monster away. The light of daybreak appeared in the sky. Although the little boy was injured, he re-covered surprisingly quickly. He turned out to be an immortal sent by Heaven to save the villagers. That day was the lunar New Year's Day.

That is no more than a legend, but some related customs have been handed down. For example, people set off firecrackers on NewYear's Eve; the whole family gets together to stay up the whole night to welcome the New Year; replaced by red New Year scrolls and door-god paintings; the first day of the first lunar month is called in Chinese da nian chu yi to remind people of the story of driving the nian monster away. Besides, on that day, people go to ds and relatives, and exchange New Year wishes. Elders usually give children gifts of money.

It is true that people of different regions have their own customs for celebrating Chinese New Year, but they all consider it the most important festival and a dearly cherished occasion to get together with their other family members. What does New Year mean to the Chinese people? It is the good wishes exchanged between relatives and friends, the crackling of firecrackers that usually lasts a whole night, and the vigorous strokes of Chinese characters on the New Year scrolls...In fact, New Year is what reminds Chinese people of the feelings they hold dear in their hearts, and their beloved homes. For that reason, Chinese people travel a long way to return home for a short but happy stay with their families, no matter how difficult there return journey may be, which clearly demonstrates the significance of the lunar New Year to them.

The Moral of This Story

The lunar New Year is considered the most important occasion in China and is celebrated as a grand festival. On this day, people leave behind all the hardship they've gone through during the previous year and enjoy the sweet moments of gathering with other family members, exchanging good wishes. The related ceremonial customs, including sitting together to welcome a better year, show the Chinese people's longing for happiness and their positive attitude toward life.