New Year in Chinese. When and how the New Year is celebrated in China. Do not sleep - you will freeze

: January 1, as in most Christian countries, and during the new moon - the so-called "Chinese New Year" - Chunjie (Spring Festival).

The history of celebrating the Chinese New Year goes back many centuries. He does not have a fixed date, it is calculated according to the Far Eastern lunisolar calendar. The beginning of the year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice and therefore moves between January 21 and February 21.

Each year is associated with a certain zodiac sign and element.

In the north of China, it is customary to eat dumplings (jiaozi) for the New Year, and in the south - slices made from glutinous rice (niangao). The northerners prefer dumplings, because in Chinese the word "jiaozi" is consonant with the words "farewell to the old and meeting the new." In addition, the dumplings resemble traditional gold and silver bars and symbolize the wish for wealth. For the same reason, southerners eat niangao, which symbolizes the improvement in life every year.

The festive New Year's Eve dinner ends with the distribution of "money of happiness". Adults give children red envelopes with money invested in them, which are supposed to bring good luck throughout the new year. In ancient times, New Year's money was presented in the form of a hundred copper coins tied together and symbolizing the hope of life up to a hundred years. After a festive dinner, you cannot go to bed so as not to miss your happiness.

In China, there is also a tradition that originated in antiquity: during the New Year celebrations, when you come to visit, you present two tangerines to the owners, and when you leave, you receive two other tangerines from them. The emergence of this tradition is associated with the fact that in Chinese "a pair of tangerines" is consonant with the word "gold".

In China, in general, for the New Year, it is customary to give gifts from paired objects that symbolize unity, family harmony: two vases, two mugs, and so on.

It is not customary to give watches, especially to the elderly, or toys and children's things to those whose children have not yet been born. Usually, guests give New Year's gifts to the owners before leaving, sometimes they even leave them secretly.

The New Year is followed by three holidays: chui, chuer and chusan, during which friends and relatives visit each other and give gifts. Then the holiday resumes, and the festivities continue for another two weeks.

During the festive performances, traditional lion and dragon dances are performed. The lion dance, symbolizing protection in the new year from troubles and misfortunes, began to be performed and spread throughout China during the Chunjie festival in the XIV-XVI centuries. The dragon dance also has a long history.

It was included in festive rituals as early as the XII century and expressed the admiration of people for the dragon.

A dragon made from paper, wire and willow twigs can reach 8-10 meters. His body is flexible and consists of a different, but necessarily an odd number of parts. Each part is controlled with the help of a pole by one dancer, the wave-like wriggling movements of the dragon require great coherence of the participants.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

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For the Chinese to hear on January 1, "Happy New Year!" as wildly as if you were congratulated on March 8 in winter. The Chinese New Year comes later than the Western one and, unlike the banal calendar change, makes much more sense.

Chinese New Year is a holiday of spring. It falls on one of the days between January 21st and February 21st. And this is what happens in China two weeks before and two weeks after the holiday.

Firstly, it is customary to celebrate the Spring Festival at home with the whole family, that is, about half of China working in big cities returns home at this time.

Secondly, the Chinese are not entitled to vacation. There is no such clause in the Chinese Labor Code. That is, national holidays are the only way to travel. This means that within two weeks after the holiday, half of China is intensively developing the tourist places of the Middle Kingdom.

Thirdly, in 2016, China's population was (for a second!) 1.3 billion people. Now imagine 750 million people simultaneously moving from one place to another.

The traditions of celebrating the Chinese New Year in provinces and cities differ:

• In the Wudang Mountains, Hubei Province, all houses are thoroughly cleaned, and a red and gold image of the hieroglyph Fu 福 (happiness, prosperity) is hung on the doorupright or upside-down, as is the case throughout China, and the door frames are also adorned with red inscriptions wishing good luck in the new year. They often hang like this throughout the year and change on the eve of a new holiday.

• It is also common here the custom of hanging an image of "sweet god" in the kitchen.Before the New Year, housewives smear his lips with honey or sugar syrup, so that when this god goes to heaven to report on the behavior of his wards, only sweet speeches would flow from his lips.
• The New Year's meal is one of the most plentiful.In Wudang, on the eve of the holiday, pork sausage is prepared, which is hung on the street to dry.

• Making dumplings for the whole family is an integral tradition. Many families make dumplings in the form of ancient currency bars, and put a coin in one of them. The year will be especially successful for the one who gets this surprise.

• There can be more than 20 dishes on the New Year's table.Among them must necessarily be fish, chicken, pork, beef, duck - often all dishes at the same time. In poor families, only one meat dish is put on the table, but no one touches it - to show the neighbors that they can afford it, and not to actually eat it.

• A typical New Year's gift is Hongbao, a red envelope with money,which in Hubei province is usually given to children or the elderly. The amount depends on the well-being of the giver and the status of the recipient. The older the person, the more money it is customary to give.

• On the first day of the new year, they visit each other. The Chinese give practical gifts: cigarettes, alcohol, large bottles of vegetable oil or portioned milk cartons. No romance, but a lot of benefits.

• New Year in China is red.This is due to the legend of the terrible monster Nian, crawling out on the last day of the old year, who is afraid of red. Also, red symbolizes happiness and good luck. And, thirdly, according to popular belief, people whose year begins in accordance with the Chinese cyclical calendar (year of the Rat, Rabbit, Tiger, Ox, etc.) will face a difficult year. They are shown wearing red underwear to scare away trouble and attract good luck., which appears in huge quantities in stores on New Year's Eve.

The history of this holiday is more than a thousand years old, but some elements of the traditions were encountered earlier. According to legend, at the very beginning of the coming year, the fierce beast Nian came, which destroyed cattle, frightened people, brought misfortune, even the trees shed their foliage and shoots went back underground from its appearance. And so that nature came to life, foliage and flowers blossomed and spring began, people were forced to drive away the terrible beast with all their might. They launched fireworks and firecrackers to scare him away, placate him with sweets and treats, and hung charms in the house and on the doors so that Nian would not come to them. And when the beast did leave, nature awakened and spring in all its glory fell to the ground.

When is Chinese New Year celebrated and how long does it last?

New Year in China is celebrated according to the lunar calendar. According to him, the holiday falls on the night of the first day of the first lunar month. The exact date is determined based on the phases of the moon each year. According to the Gregorian calendar, it always falls between January 21 and February 21.

Chinese New Year 2018 falls between January 15th and February 21st. But it lasts not one, not two, or even ten days, but as many as 15! During this time, all of China and the nearest resort countries are simply boiling, the movement of the Chinese around the planet reaches its climax. Still would! After all, every Chinese citizen on New Year's Eve is simply obliged to appear in his hometown or village and celebrate the holiday with his family. After that, many go on a trip to China or to foreign countries.

Chinese New Year in 2018, like any other, will last 15 days, each of which will have its own importance, and will end with the Lantern Festival, one of the most colorful holidays in China.

Features and traditions of celebrating the Chinese New Year

Long before the onset of the holiday itself, the inhabitants of China begin a thorough preparation, which does not at all distinguish them from the Europeans. It is very important for the Chinese to prepare and decorate their home. There is a general cleaning of dwellings and houses, everything superfluous, old and unnecessary is thrown away, because the Chinese believe that by doing so they make room in the house for wealth, happiness and good luck. It is very important to decorate the house in shades of red, because for the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, red represents wealth, good luck, and prosperity. Paired signs with hieroglyphs in red and gold are hung on the doors. They are believed to scare away evil spirits and attract happiness to the home.

Festive clothes are purchased and sewn in advance, gifts are prepared for relatives and friends. By the way, the understanding of New Year gifts for the Chinese is different from our understanding. As a rule, gifts are given useful and necessary, practical. It is in the order of things to give a bottle of wine, some food or a bunch of flowers. As a gift to a loved one, a red envelope of luck is usually used, which contains money.

So ... the whole family gathers at the New Year's table, sums up the results of the outgoing year. All congratulate each other and wish good luck, happiness, wealth, longevity. On New Year's Eve, the entire sky of the Middle Kingdom is lit up with festive salutes and fireworks. The nationwide celebration of the Chinese New Year begins, which walks across the Celestial Empire for 15 days. On the final fifteenth day, the Lantern Festival begins - this is a very bright holiday, during which red lanterns burn here and there, folk dances and performances are staged.

What to cook for Chinese New Year

What dishes do the Chinese serve on the festive table is an interesting question that requires special attention.

Let's not forget that China consists of many provinces in which various nationalities live, therefore each corner of the Middle Kingdom has its own interesting features of the New Year's table (стола niányè fàn), which, according to the Chinese, must necessarily be rich, varied and consist of very satisfying and tasty treats. New Year's Eve dinner must necessarily include dishes containing fish, which symbolizes abundance and prosperity.

In the north, dziaozi dumplings (饺子 jiǎozi) are traditionally served on the table, they come with meat or vegetable filling. These small dumplings are similar to traditional Chinese coins and symbolize wealth.

In the south, they prefer noodles, which the Chinese identify with longevity and a happy life.

Nyengao or niangao (年糕 niángāo) - New Year's cookies or glutinous rice flour cake - a favorite Chinese delicacy. The name of the cookie is consonant with the phrase "improving life", so serving it to the table is mandatory.

Chicken, shrimps, seaweed, oysters ... what is not on the table on New Year's Eve! Indeed, for the Chinese, the main thing is that the table is full of food, and this means that the coming year will be well-fed, rich and successful.

If you observe all the good old New Year's traditions: get together with your family at the same table, prepare and decorate your home, drive away all evil spirits, congratulate all your relatives, and also have fun, then the new year will undoubtedly be better than the previous one and promises a full cup and well-being.

Did you know that the amount of alcohol consumed in China is decreasing every New Year? Thanks to the tea tradition, which says that a full cup of tea is enough for true joy.

So that the holiday is not boring, we have made a selection of the most "festive" varieties, the effect of which is felt especially strongly.

On the eighth day of the last month according to the lunar calendar, many homes prepare a fragrant porridge - "labazhou", which consists of 8 types of products: glutinous rice, chumiza, grains of yovlev tears (bead), dates, lotus seeds, red beans, fruits "longyan ", ginkgo seed.

The twenty-third day of the last month according to the lunar calendar is called by the people "xiaonian" (ie "small New Year"). People strictly following traditions make a sacrifice to the deity of the hearth.

Before the holiday, the country literally blooms with kumach. Everywhere there are posters with gracefully written on them the hieroglyphs "fu" (happiness) and "si" (joy), garlands of lanterns and other decorations, and all of them are exclusively red, meaning prosperity, luck and prosperity.

Before the holiday, the house is supposed to do a general cleaning, wash and clean all clothes and blankets. After the house is cleaned, all the brooms, scoops, rags are removed to a place where no one could see them during the holiday. The reason for this strange behavior lies in the legend: during the New Year celebration, the gods fly around the houses of the Chinese and give them dust, which symbolizes happiness. Therefore, if you clean up during the New Year, you may accidentally sweep all the happy moments of the future out of your house along with the dust.

Houses cleaned to shine take on a festive look. All door frames are covered with paired calligraphic inscriptions made in black ink on red paper. The content of the paired inscriptions boils down to the expression of the life ideals of the owner of the house or good wishes for the new year. Images of guardian spirits and a deity of wealth are pasted on the door in the hope that they will bring happiness and prosperity to the house.

Two large red lanterns are hung in front of the house, and the windows are decorated with paper designs. The walls of the rooms are decorated with bright New Year's paintings, which symbolize the wish for happiness and wealth.

The night before Chinese New Year is also called "the night of meeting after separation." For the Chinese, this is the most important point. The whole family gathers at the festive table for the New Year's dinner, which is distinguished not only by the abundance and variety of dishes, but also by numerous traditions. For example, New Year's dinner is not complete without dishes of chicken, fish and doufu - bean curd, called "tofu" in Russia, because in Chinese the names of these products are consonant with the words meaning "happiness" and "prosperity."

According to tradition, on New Year's Eve, people do not sleep and stay awake until the morning, so as not to miss their happiness. If someone does lie down on New Year's Eve to rest, then he should get up early. There is a popular belief: "If you get up early for the New Year, you will get rich too early."

With the onset of New Year's morning, people put on smart clothes. Young people congratulate the elderly on the holiday and wish them longevity. It is customary for children to give red envelopes with pocket money. This money is supposed to bring them happiness in the new year. In ancient times, money was donated not in envelopes, but in the form of necklaces, which were made up of one hundred coins. It was a kind of congratulation, wishing to live up to a hundred years old. One hundred coin necklaces are still very popular in China today.

In the north of China, it is customary to eat dumplings for the new year, and in the south - "niangao" (slices made from glutinous rice). The northerners prefer dumplings, because, firstly, in the Chinese language the word "jiaozi", ie "pelmeni" is consonant with the words "seeing off the old and meeting the new"; secondly, dumplings resemble in their shape traditional bars made of gold and silver and symbolize the wish for wealth. For the same reason, southerners eat niangao, which symbolizes the improvement in life every year.

A joyful festive atmosphere fills not only every home, but also reigns on every street of every city and village. On the Spring Festival, noisy folk festivals and fairs are held for several days in a row, where lion and dragon dances are performed.

The dance of lions, according to legend, traces its history back to the events of the era of the Southern and Northern dynasties, when in a decisive battle one of the parties disguised itself as lions (which were never found in China) and won the battle, because the enemy's war elephants were frightened by terrible masks and fled. dropping their riders. Since then, Chinese soldiers have performed the lion dance on solemn occasions. In the XIV-XVI centuries, this dance spread throughout China and began to be performed during the Chunjie festival. It is designed to scare away all the evil forces that can bring misfortune in the coming year.

The dragon dance also has a long history. It was included in festive rituals back in the XII century and expressed the admiration of people before the dragon and requests to him to tame the wind and shed rain to get a good harvest. A dragon made from paper, wire and willow twigs can reach 8-10 meters. His body is flexible and consists of a different, but necessarily an odd number of parts (9, 11, 13). Each part is controlled with the help of a pole by one dancer, the wave-like wriggling movements of the dragon require great coordination of the participants.

The first five days of the new year are for meetings. Relatives, friends, classmates, colleagues visit and wish each other a Happy New Year, give gifts.

New Year's festivities end after the Lantern Festival (Yuanxiaojie or Dengjie), on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar. Today in the capital, exhibitions and competitions of lanterns, organized in large city parks, are very popular. Lantern exhibitions last for several days and are an integral part of the New Year's holiday.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

New Year in China is considered the most important holiday of the year; it has been celebrated grandly, on a grand scale, for several millennia. Once in ancient times, the celebrations lasted more than a month, because there is no agricultural work in winter. Now that the pace of life has changed, the weekend has been reduced to a week and a half. However, this fact does not exclude the general fun.

The most ancient, the most important

Due to the great popularity of the "international" New Year, celebrated on the night of December 31 to January 1, the Chinese have decided to rename their national New Year, the celebration of which often falls in the second half of the not too cold winter in this region, the Spring Festival. It happened more than a hundred years ago.

By the way, the Chinese New Year has another distinguishing feature - it does not have a fixed day. The specific date of the celebration varies from January 21 to February 21 and depends on the lunar calendar: in Chinese, the New Year starts on the second New Moon after the winter solstice. It is difficult to realize this, but over the years, the Chinese have learned to understand dates without much difficulty. So, for example, the year of the Yellow Pig will actually begin on February 5th.

Do not sleep - you will freeze

Unusual traditions of celebrating the New Year are present in every country, in Catalonia, logs are planted at the table, in Austria they are chasing a mythical monster, but in China, on the night before a significant date, you cannot go to bed. Indeed, judging by the belief, on the last day before the beginning of the New Year, all troubles and misfortunes go out on the hunt in order to attack the Chinese who gape in the literal sense of the word. So if you want to spend a year without facing big problems, don't go to bed. Especially if you live in China.

And the Chinese do not advise buying new shoes before the holiday and cutting their hair - all for the same reason. According to them, those who broke the rules will face continuous setbacks next year.

No fireworks? Make noise!

Traditions demand: the holiday must be noisy. These days there are no big problems with this, because the Chinese are real masters of the production of fireworks, and there is more than enough rumble (even too much) from them. By the way, some time ago, during the celebration of the International New Year (no less beloved by modern Chinese), a local landmark, a tower that was almost 600 years old, even suffered from fireworks. The version that it caught fire from the firecrackers still remains unproven, but considering that the fire happened in the midst of the holiday, the conclusions suggest themselves ...

But here's what is interesting: at the time of the emergence of the "loud" tradition of fireworks simply did not exist, but it was still necessary to make noise. The resourceful Chinese were not lost - after all, by and large, noise can be created with the help of the most everyday objects.

Also, the Chinese traditionally burn bamboo sticks in ovens: when burned, they emit a kind of crackling that scares away evil spirits. Today firecrackers and sparklers have replaced sticks.

Mythical Nian

One interesting myth is associated with the celebration of the New Year in China - about a magical monster, which the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire nicknamed Nian. The monster is especially angry and hungry on the first day of the year and is not at all averse, according to the legends, to feast on not only cattle, but also its owners (yes, it obviously did not work out with the kind Grandfather Frost in the Celestial Empire). Nian is especially fond of small children who behaved inappropriately last year. To appease the monster, the villagers leave food and drinks on the doorstep of houses and temples - this is the only way to avoid a sad fate and not be eaten.

We hide brooms and mops

Another fun Chinese New Year tradition is to hide all cleaning items. The day before the celebration, the house must be put in perfect order, and on the eve of New Year's Eve, it is customary to hide all brooms, rags and brushes so that they do not catch your eye. This ritual is associated with the legend that on New Year's Eve the gods bring happiness and good fortune to families for the next year. This luck settles in the house in the form of dust, so in order not to brush off the luck, it is impossible to clean up immediately after the New Year for some time. In addition, to avoid setbacks in the coming year, the festive night should not be spent in their own bedroom - so even the elderly leave their rooms to join their family at the festive table.

Pair of tangerines

In addition to traditional sweets and other pleasant gifts, it is customary in China to give two tangerines on arrival at the national New Year. And leaving the hospitable house, you need to take with you the other two tangerines, already accepted as a gift from other participants in the celebration. The solution to the strange rite is simple: it turns out that in Chinese, "para tangerine" sounds exactly the same as the word "gold", so the present in the form of delicious fruit symbolizes the wish for wealth and prosperity next year.

If wishes are not shouted out, they will not come true

Chinese is one of the most difficult languages \u200b\u200bin the world. And not only thanks to the record number of hieroglyphs that a European seems to be unable to memorize, but also due to the unusual pronunciation. Have you ever noticed that the Chinese are talking too loudly? Sometimes this behavior seems to be a manifestation of bad manners and even annoying. In fact, in this language, some words really need to be shouted out, because if you say them quietly, there is a risk that no one will understand you. The same story is with wishes for the Chinese New Year: they must be shouted out, the louder, the greater the chance that everything will come true in the very near future.

Tree of Light instead of a tree

Red is one of the most beloved colors in China. It is believed that it brings good luck, and since there is no traditional New Year tree in China, the most common tree, which in China is called the Tree of Light, is decorated with red balls and lanterns.

Dragons are the main guests

One of the most important events that takes place annually in all cities and villages of China is the Dragon Dance. For the first time, judging by the research, the Dragon dance appeared in the 12th century - for the Chinese it is of great importance, because it has long been believed that certain body movements protect against grief and misfortune in the New Year. Dragons are made of paper and wire: the long body can be up to 10 meters long. The body segments of the dragon are made separately, each has a pole attached to it, which is operated by artists.