A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far, get together for celebration. The venue will usually be in the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous and traditionally includes chicken. Fish (榄? y煤) is included, but not eaten up completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase 骞村勾鏈夐 (ni谩n ni谩n y菕u y煤), which means "may there be surpluses every year", sounds the same as "may there be fish every year."
Buddha's delight (Traditional Chinese: 缇呮饥榻? Simplified Chinese: 缃楁眽鏂? pinyin: lu贸h脿n zh膩i), an elaborate vegetarian dish traditionally comprising 18 ingredients, is often served by Chinese families on the first day of the New Year. A type of black hair-like algae, pronounced "fat choy" in Cantonese, is also featured in Buddha's delight and other dishes, since its name sounds similar to fat choy, the Cantonese word for "prosperity." Hakka will serve kiu nyuk (鎵ｈ倝) and ngiong tiu fu. Because certain things and/or food sound alike to certain Chinese well-wishes, the belief is that having one will lead to the other.
Most Northerners serve dumplings as the main dish in this festive season and many Chinese around the world do the same because it is believed that dumplings (椁冨瓙, ji菐o zi) are wrapped in the semblance of Chinese gold ingots (illustrated) used in ancient China. This gold nugget is called 閲戝厓瀵?(jin yu谩n b菐o). However, mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year amongst Chinese simply because of, inter alia, how the name of the fruit is phonetically similar to gold -- jin ju (閲戞瀛? or kam (閲? in Cantonese.
Red packets for the immediate family is usually distributed during the reunion dinner.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
Traditional Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year (Simplified Chinese: 鏄ヨ妭, or 鍐滃巻鏂板勾; Traditional Chinese: 鏄ョ瘈, or 杈叉泦鏂板勾; pinyin: Ch奴nji茅, or N贸ngl矛 x墨nni谩n), or the Spring Festival/Lunar New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. The Chinese New Year period lasts for 15 days, beginning on the first day of the first lunar month (姝ｆ湀 Zheng Yue) of the Chinese calendar. The holiday period ends with 鍏冨鑺?锛圷uan Xiao Jie), on the 15th day of the festival.
It is possible that the beginning of the year began with month 1 during the Xia Dynasty, month 12 during the Shang Dynasty, and month 11 during the Zhou Dynasty in China, but intercalary months were added after month 12 during both the Shang Dynasty according to surviving oracle bones and the Zhou Dynasty according to Sima Qian. The first Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang changed the beginning of the year to month 10 in 221 BC. Whether the New Year was celebrated at the beginning of these months or at the beginning of month 1 or both is unknown. In 104 BC, Emperor Wu established month 1 as the beginning of the year where it remains.
According to legend, in ancient China, nian ("Nyan"), a man-eating beast from the mountains, could infiltrate houses silently to prey on humans. The people later learned that nian was sensitive to loud noises and the color red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the color red. So guo nian actually means surviving the nian. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations.
Chuxi or 闄ゅ in Mandarin Chinese. Chu means "get rid of" and xi is the day of the legendary man-eating beast, nian, that preys once a year on New Year Eve. When nian arrived, people used firecrackers to scare him away. Once nian ran away, people joined together to celebrate for another year of safe life.
Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese. Chinese New Year is considered to be a major holiday for the Chinese as well as ethnic groups who were strongly influenced by Chinese culture. This includes Japanese, Koreans, Miao (Chinese Hmong), Mongolians, Vietnamese, Tibetans, the Nepalese and the Bhutanese (see Losar).
Chinese New Year is also the time when the largest human migration takes place when overseas Chinese all around the world return home on the eve of Chinese New Year to have reunion dinners with their families.
It is possible that the beginning of the year began with month 1 during the Xia Dynasty, month 12 during the Shang Dynasty, and month 11 during the Zhou Dynasty in China, but intercalary months were added after month 12 during both the Shang Dynasty according to surviving oracle bones and the Zhou Dynasty according to Sima Qian. The first Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang changed the beginning of the year to month 10 in 221 BC. Whether the New Year was celebrated at the beginning of these months or at the beginning of month 1 or both is unknown. In 104 BC, Emperor Wu established month 1 as the beginning of the year where it remains.
According to legend, in ancient China, nian ("Nyan"), a man-eating beast from the mountains, could infiltrate houses silently to prey on humans. The people later learned that nian was sensitive to loud noises and the color red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the color red. So guo nian actually means surviving the nian. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations.
Chuxi or 闄ゅ in Mandarin Chinese. Chu means "get rid of" and xi is the day of the legendary man-eating beast, nian, that preys once a year on New Year Eve. When nian arrived, people used firecrackers to scare him away. Once nian ran away, people joined together to celebrate for another year of safe life.
Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese. Chinese New Year is considered to be a major holiday for the Chinese as well as ethnic groups who were strongly influenced by Chinese culture. This includes Japanese, Koreans, Miao (Chinese Hmong), Mongolians, Vietnamese, Tibetans, the Nepalese and the Bhutanese (see Losar).
Chinese New Year is also the time when the largest human migration takes place when overseas Chinese all around the world return home on the eve of Chinese New Year to have reunion dinners with their families.
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