Your Guide To The Chinese New Year 2014

YOUR GUIDE To THE THINESE NEW YEAR 2014 FACTS Chinese New Year begins on the first day of a new moon. It ends with the full moon on the 2014 is the Year of the Horse. day of the lantern festival. The Chinese calendar follows a 12 It is also known as the Spring year pattern, each one named after an animal. Festival. Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. DRAGON MONKEY RABBIT OOSTER GER The loud drumming and clashing of cymbals is believed to chase away bad luck/evil spirits during lion and dragon dances. Food is traditionally symbolic of happiness, prosperity, luck, fertility and life. Oranges and black moss seaweed are symbolic for prosperity; Chicken and prawns for happiness; pomelos for fertility and noodles for long life! Red is the predominant and auspicious colour of the Chinese New Year. It symbolises fortune, good luck and joy. White or black clothing is often avoided, as they Fish is featured in most meals during the season. In Mandarin, the word for fish translates to 'excess' or 'surplus'. represent the traditional colours of mourning in Chinese culture. CHINESE NEW YEAR 七 LENDAR Meat Family Midnight Evil Spirits Cleaning Food Ez, 17. z, Fire Works Gifts Praying Back to Work Birthdays Rest Days DAYS 2 Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day, so all food is to be consumed is cooked the day before. Some believe this day to be important for dogs and reward them with treats! This day is believed to be the birthday of Che Kung, a deity worshipped in Hong Kong. Worshippers go to Che Kung Temples to pray for his blessing. Families may invite a lion dance troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the Chinese New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from the premises. The third day is known as Chikou, directly translated as 'red mouth'. Rural villagers continue the tradition of burning paper offerings over trash fires. In communities that celebrate Chinese New Year for only two or three days, the fourth day is when corporate 'spring dinners' begin and business This is also considered a propitious returns to normal. day to visit the temple of the God of Wealth and have ones future told. 5 This day is believed to be Cai Shen's More firecrackers are thrown to keep away malicious spirits who may birthday, the god of wealth. interfere with business. People will shoot off firecrackers to get the attention of the deity Guan Yu, thus ensuring his favour and good fortune for the new year. Offices reopen and business returns to normal in places that consider the first five days of Chinese New Year as a public holiday. 7 The seventh day, traditionally known as Rénrì (AE, the common person's birthday), is the day when everyone Store owners will host a dinner with their employees, thanking their employees for the work they have done for the whole year. grows one year older. For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat. The seventh day commemorates the birth of Sakra, lord of the devas in Buddhist cosmology. Sakra is also analogous to the Jade Emperor of Hokkien people prepare for a Jade Emperor ritual (Bai Ti Gong or #F A) at midnight. Incense is burnt and food offerings are made to the Jade Emperor and Zao Jun, the Kitchen God who reports on each family to the Jade Emperor. Heaven. 10 六 The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade Emperor. Recognition and offerings continue to be offered to the Jade Emperor on day ten. 11 12 z. Aside from family meals, not many celebrations take place during days eleven and twelve. 13 14 Z, z. On the thirteenth day people will eat pure vegetarian food to clean out their stomach due to consuming too much food over the preceding two Day fourteen is spent resting and preparing for the Lantern Festival, the final Chinese New Year celebration. weeks. Almost every organization and business in China will pray to Guan Yu. 15 The fifteenth day of the new year celebrated as Yuanxiao Festival/ Most romantic of the Chinese New Year traditions, single women once Yuánxiãojié (TAD), also known as Shangyuan Festival/ Shàngyuánjié (ET) or the Lantern Festival. wrote contact information on oranges, then threw them into the river. Men would collect the oranges and determine if they would take a chance with contact based on the Considered by many to be the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day, the fifteenth and last day of Chinese New Year brings another round of fireworks, shows, and sweetness or sourness of the orange! Candles are lit everywhere to attract friendly spirits. Large processions walk the streets with candles and celebration. lanterns. SUPERSTITIONS Sweeping and cleaning is strictly forbidden. It is believed that Buying shoes during the season is avoided. In Cantonese, shoes are a homonym for 'rough'. cleaning means you'll sweep all of your good luck out the front door. Tales of death, dying and ghosts is considered supremely inauspicious, especially during Chinese New Year. In Chinese culture it is believed that if you start the new year in debt, you'll finish it the same way. Welcome in the New Year with a blast of fresh air. Opening your windows is said to let in good Hong Kong's bookshops will be padlocked tight. In Cantonese, book is a homonym for 'lose'. luck. Sharp objects are said to be harbingers of bad luck, as their sharp points cut out your good Chinese New Year offers the perfect chance to raid the sweet shop, as eating sweets is said to deliver a sweeter year. luck. Also avoid the hairdressers or you'll have your good luck chopped off. gohongkong.about.com/od/hongkongfestivals/tp/CNYsuperstition.htm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Yeart#Preceding_days goasia.about.com/od/ChineseNew Year/a/Chinese-New-Year-Traditions.htm www.activityvillage.co.uk/year-of-the-horse www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese-new-year www.weekendnotes.com/facts-about-chinese-new-year/ www.factmonster.com/spot/chinesenewyear1.html Barrington Freight www.barringtonfreight.co.uk OS ח!