On Spotlight: CNY history, meaning and a special tradition

It's the time of the year again.

*drum rolls*

It's Chinese New Year which falls on February 1st, 2022! So, to light things up, here's your not so typical CNY song for this new year!

Check out Douglas Lim's parody rendition of CNY song!

Sing first, then shout, "Heng ah! Ong ah! Huat ah!"

A New Year, A New Zodiac Ruling

Breaking News: The Big Cats are roaming on the streets in Kelantan. They're being released from their "quarantine" after 12 years.

It's the Year of the Tiger, everyone! In fact, to be more accurate, it's actually the Year of the Water Tiger!

So, do you know what was the zodiac ruling that we're going to say goodbye to? It's the Ox, after such a bullish year of 2021.

According to the Chinese Zodiac, there are 12 animal signs which represents the Lunar Calendar on a repeating 12 year cycle.

The zodiac typically begins with the Year of Rat, followed by the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig being the last of all.

Back in the days, they then further classified these zodiacs into 5 main universal elements which are Earth, Fire, Metal, Wood and Water that represent a 60 year cycle for each of the zodiac.

In the year of 2022, the Water Tiger will make an appearance once again. The last time that the Water Tiger zodiac make an appearance was back in 1962.

So, for those who are a Water Tiger, it's time for you to have a bigger celebration this year.

A Prosperous 16 Days of Celebration

Yes, you heard it right.

As Chinese, we typically celebrate Chinese New Year for 16 days starting from the date of reunion dinner up to the Lantern Festival.

This year, our celebration will start from 31st January up until 15 February.

On 31st January, we will have our reunion dinner whereby our close families will gather to meet and have dinner together. It's an occasion to celebrate and strengthen the family ties among each other.

After the reunion dinner, our Chinese New Year celebration will officially get started.

But don't get too excited yet.

There are a lot of do's and don'ts that you will need to adhere to.

The Do's

On the first day of Chinese New Year, the first meal of the day should be a longevity mee. By having this longevity mee, it symbolizes that we will have a healthy long lasting age until we're old.

But before we have our first meal, we must complete some prayers to the Gods and the departed ones first. Next, we would blast out the joyous Chinese New Year songs or TV programmes to attract wealth and prosperity into our home.

We're also reminded of our ethics and we must able to say ONLY the good things in the first day of Chinese New Year. We must greet our relatives or friends using their names or their titles.

Anything bad like death, vulgar words, or show of emotions are STRICTLY prohibited.

As we move on to second day, we will tend to visit our distant relatives. For the single and unmarried, we're eligible for Ang Pows. *psst.... I'm still single*

However, for those who are married, it's a tradition to give out the ang pows to those unmarried ones.

The Don'ts

On the "What not to do during Chinese New Year?", we do have a lot in place.

As the old saying goes, "If you do any of these things, it will cut short your life and you will encounter a lot of losses"

So, let's jump into it.

1. Do not sweep the floor. You'll be sweeping away all the good luck!
2. Do not cleaning up tables, chairs and even clothes! You're throwing away the good luck you received.
3. No shouting, vulgarities and showing of emotions. You'll run into a lot of relationship problems.
4. Do not throw away rubbish. Keep it first until the 3rd day of CNY.
5. Avoid wearing purely white or black during Chinese New Year. It's a sign of disrespect as according to custom, we only allow to wear purely white or black during funeral occasion.
6. Avoid having a haircut. It is believed to bring misfortunes to your relatives.
7. Avoid borrowing money. This is believed to cause people to be unlucky for the whole year.
8. Don't eat porridge during first day of Chinese New Year. In the olden days, it is believed that eating porridge on the first day of CNY will lead to you being poor the whole year.
9. Avoid killing animals for meat consumption. This is said to bring bad omen to your family if someone kill animals during the whole 16 days of CNY.
10. Avoid gifting certain items such as clocks, mirrors, knifes or scissors. This is said to bring bad meaning to people's life such as to shorten their lifespan.

In addition, if you had a close family member or relatives who passed away in the past year, you're refrained from celebrating Chinese New Year for the following year.

The Important Dates of Chinese New Year

As we have 16 days of Chinese New Year festival, we must also take note of the important dates for us to correctly follow the tradition of our elders.

31st Jan: Reunion Dinner - A family gathering which typically involves only the father side of the family for dinner.

1st February: First Day of CNY (Start of Spring Festival) - It's the day whereby we welcome the deities of heaven and earth on midnight. It's also the day whereby we light firecrackers to ward off evil spirits.

2nd February: Second Day of CNY - Normally, this will be the day whereby the married daughters will visit their birth parents. It is also an auspicious day to welcome the God of Wealth (Cai Shen Yeh) into our home.

3rd February: Third day of CNY - It's important to know that we must only speak the good and not the bad. Any vulgarities or bad things should not be spoken on this day as this can incur the wrath of God of Blazing Wrath.

5th February: God of Wealth Birthday - Celebration of God of Wealth's birthday should be accompanied by mandarin oranges (kam), prayers and a wish.

7th February: People's Birthday - It's time to toss the yee sang to celebrate everyone's birthday as people are getting older by a year.

9th February: Jade Emporer of Heaven Birthday - The Chinese will usually celebrate this day by giving prayers of thanks and gratitude to the Jade Emporer.

15th February: Lantern Festival/Chap Go Meh - This day marks the end of Chinese New Year festival for 16 days. It is celebrated by having a bowl of Tang Yuan (glutinous rice ball brewed in soup).

In addition, if any ladies who are single, they can hope to look for a partner by writing down their name and contact number on Mandarin oranges and throw it on a lake. If any single men picks it up before the mandarin orange turns sour, they may have a good fate in their relationship.

The History of CNY

It is believed that the history of Chinese New Year actually started in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) and have enjoyed about 3,500 years of history.

Then, in the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC), the Chinese back then decided to create the first Chinese "Calendar" Year. Thus, the term, "Nian" appeared during this dynasty. It is created to worship and offer sacrifices to the Gods and the ancestors to bless the harvest at the turn of the year, which is during Spring season.

In a much later dynasty called the Han dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), the Chinese New Year day for the first date of Chinese New Year festival was finally established.

Therefore, in much modern dynasties, they continued the tradition and establish even more customs such as visiting relatives, enjoying firecrackers and cleaning up house before the celebration.

In today's Chinese New Year festival, it is no surprise to see that many of us are still continuing this tradition that has been passed down from generations to generations.

(picture credits to chinahighights.com)

A legend's tale and red papers

Remember the word, "Nian"?

According to a legend's tale, it is actually a mythical beast called Nian which lives under the sea. During the annual spring festival, it is said that this creature will come up at night to attack and eat the villages.

So, in order to avoid this mythical beast, the villagers will go into hiding at night and there is one day, an old man appeared and said that he will take care of the beast. He then put up the red papers and set up firecrackers.

To everyone surprise, nothing get destroyed the following day and they assumed the old man is a deity sent from above to protect the villagers.

From then on, when New Year's approach, the villagers continue the tradition of wearing red and setting off firecrackers. The mythical beast "Nian" would never appeared again and it is said to have retreated into a nearby mountain.

This is why we're accustomed to wear red during the Chinese New Year festival and set off firecrackers to ward off the "evil" spirit throughout the year.

2022 Chinese New Year Aspirations

So, what are your Chinese New Year aspirations for 2022?

Personally, I'm really looking forward into 2 things, personal growth and career transition.

In February, I am aiming to start a few initiatives such as my own LinkedIn Live show, career coaching, releasing my own e-book and develop my own personal brand on LinkedIn.

I've been putting some of these off for quite some time due to my packed work schedule but I believe it's better to execute now than never.

So, if you haven't got started yet, maybe it's time for you to get the ball rolling!

Final Words

In summary, the Chinese New Year tradition have been practiced and maintained by generations for over 3,500 years and counting.

As we read more into the rich culture and history, it reminds us of how far we have come and all the great values that our grandparents have imparted on us.

As I compile this newsletter, I think this has been the longest newsletter I've ever written but I'm proud of it.

Hence, in light of the coming Chinese New Year, I sincerely wish everyone to have a happy and prosperous celebration with family and friends. At the same time, let us pray that we will see the end of Covid-19 soon.

Take care and I will see you in the next edition of On Spotlight! newsletter.

~ Cazey Tan, Content Creator on LinkedIn