How to Celebrate Spring Festival?

How to Celebrate Spring Festival?

Spring Festival' refers to the same festival more commonly known in English as the 'Chinese New Year'. It is the biggest festival in China. Spring Festival 2023 falls on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2023, beginning a year of the Tiger.

The first reason, is that the Spring Festival does in fact take place during the time that the northern hemisphere starts its gradual warming, having already passed the coldest part of the winter.

The second reason, is the celebration for this festival in China began in ancient times, when traditional calendars were primarily used for practical agricultural purposes.

Dumplings plays an imporant role in Spring Festival.

Waking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think "jiaozi" in sound means "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new". Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure.

Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom.

Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. While others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.

Red pocket, red packet, red envelope... what is this magical red thing?

By giving the money to children, elders are hoping to pass on a year of good fortune and blessings. Another version is given by the younger generation to their elders as a blessing of longevity and a show of gratitude.

What is a Chinese reunion dinner?

The reunion dinner (tuan’nianfan) is an annual feast where family members reaffirm the love and respect that bind them together as a unit. It is also known as tuanyuan (or weilu) meaning “gathering around the family hearth”. This event is of sociological significance as it is a means to ensure the solidarity of the family and its cohesiveness.

The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs will be held for days. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.