Transcript 15-Days Celebration of Chinese New Year

15 Days of Celebration of the
Chinese New Year
Xin Chen
2010-03-24
“Before New Year Day” Tradition
• Sweep away the bad luck.
• Decorate the home with
red color paper-cuts and
cheerful couplets.
• Wear new clothing, shoes,
and get a hair-cut.
• Clean family altars and
statues.
• Watch CCTV New Year Eve
Gala Show.
• Shoot off firecrackers.
• Prepare a festive dinner
with pork, duck, chicken,
fish and sweet delicacies.
Firecrackers
New Year Day
• Participate in a religious
ceremony given in honor
of Heaven and Earth, the
gods of the household
and the family ancestors.
• Give and receive red
paper envelopes filled
with money or treats.
• All knives and cleavers
must be put away on New
Year’s Day.
Day 2 and Day 3
• Day 2
Sons-in-laws visit their
parents-in-law
• Day 3
The Third Day is known
as "chì kǒu",means "the
God of Blazing Wrath”. It
is generally accepted that
it is not a good day to
socialize.
Day 5
• In northern China,
people eat dumplings
• Celebrate the birthday
of the Chinese God of
Wealth.
• Shoot off firecrackers,
in the attempt to get
Guan Yu's attention,
ensuring his favor and
good fortune for the
new year. Guan Yu is
the God of Justice.
Dumplings
Day 6 to 10
•
Visit relatives and
friends freely.
•
Visit the temples to
pray for good
fortune and health
for the coming year.
Day 8 and Day 9
• Fujian people
celebrate the birthday
of Jade Emperor, the
God of Underworld, at
midnight.
• Tea, wine, fruit,
vegetarian food or
roasted suckling pig,
and paper-folded gold
ingots are served as
gifts.
Day 15- Lantern Festival
• Light lanterns to
worship Buddha on
the 15th day of the
1st lunar month, first
full moon.
• Children carrying
lanterns of all shapes
in a parade at night.
• Eat sweet dumplings
made of glutinous rice
flour.
• Guess lantern riddles.
Taboos
• Cleaning must be done before, not during, the
Chinese New Year period.
• All debts must be cleared before the New Year.
• Do not use words that are unlucky, such as the
number 4, which sounds like “to die”
• If you break something, you must turn it into a
lucky saying, (“Sui Sui Ping An” for Good luck
every year.)
• No crying.
• People must wear red. White, blue and gray are
considered colors reserved for mourning.
Chinese New Year
The goal of the
Chinese New
Year celebration
is that we enter
into a new year
of good
blessings.
About the Author
This slideshow was prepared by Ms. Xin Chen in March 2010. Ms. Xin Chen
is a second year student in a Masters of Public Administration program at
USC School of Policy, Planning and Development. She is a foreign student
from Fujian, China, who joined the program in August 2008 and expected to
graduate in May 2010. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in
Economics from Renmin University of China, Beijing.