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We also like to get our hair cut or a new hairstyle. Parents will usually buy new clothes for their kids. To that end, we like to give our homes a thorough cleaning when ushering in the New Year. The running theme throughout Chinese New Year (and probably New Year celebrations over the world for that matter) is leaving our past behind and looking ahead with a fresh start. Even after we all return to work the celebrations continue in some form until the fifteenth day of the First Lunar Month, Lantern Festival, or Yuanxiao Jie (元宵节). The use of fireworks on this day used to be the most aggressive, before the ban of fireworks in Shanghai. This is the day we welcome Caishen (财神), the God of Wealth. Let's cut straight to the important bits the fifth day is Da Nian Chu Wu (大年初五). I won't bog you down with all of the details. The stroke of midnight marks Da Nian Chu Yi (大年初一).Įach subsequent day is designated for certain customs.
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The family sits down to a big banquet that we call Nian Ye Fan (年夜饭). Celebrations commence on New Year's Eve, or Da Nian Ye (大年夜). In China, however, we take our time with the New Year.
![lunar new year traditions lunar new year traditions](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/newsV2/images/Y2021020300085_e37df038cf126.jpg)
In the West, you get pissed on champagne, make a resolution you'll break in two weeks, begin the year with a crippling hangover, and then go to work the next day. It's why we set off firecrackers and why you see red everywhere this time of year. To this day, this myth informs some of Chinese New Year's most important traditions. Our ancestors learned to fend off the Nian by decorating their homes in red and exploding segments of bamboo in fire. That is until a few clever ancestors discovered the Nian's Achilles' heel: Loud noises and the color red. Supposedly the holiday began with a fight against the "Nian" - a chimerical sea creature with the head of a lion, the horns of a rhino, and the body of an ox who every year would ravage the countryside, eating crops, livestock, and even children. There is probably a disappointingly mundane beginning to this tradition but the more interesting and enduring origin story is steeped in myth and legend. In China, it's more commonly referred to as "Chun Jie" (春节), or Spring Festival. This year, the Year of the Ox, commences on February 12. As with most holidays based on lunar calendar, Chinese New Year is a movable feast it falls on a different date on the Gregorian calendar every year. But we dust off the lunar calendar when we want to know about holidays and horoscopes. Like the rest of the world, of course, China has adopted the conventional Western Gregorian calendar for practical purposes. Simply put, it is the celebration of the beginning of the New Year in accordance with China's traditional lunar calendar. Please note: This article was first published in 2017 and updated with the pertinent information for the year of 2021. mainly all the stuff that doesn't involve where to eat some dinner or get drunk. " The FAQ" deals with vexing questions about living in China that we don't get to with our other articles and columns.