Let’s Celebrate Chinese New Year

Of all the traditional Chinese festivals, the New Year is perhaps the most elaborate, colorful, and important. It is a time for people to congratulate each other on having passed through another year, and as they finish out the old, they welcome in the New Year.  Here are some traditional ways Chinese New Year is celebrated:   

Chinese New Year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice.  It’s also known as the Spring Festival.

To prepare for the celebration, people clean their house days before the New Year to sweep away all bad luck or ill-fortune and make way for in-coming good luck.

Knives, brooms, and sharp objects are hidden because it is believed that using them on New Year’s Day will bring bad luck.

Houses are decorated with flowers.  A “Money Tree” is made of pinecones or Cyprus branches where coins, fruit, charms and paper flowers are hung.

Doors and windows are painted, usually in red.  Based on tradition, this practice stems from keeping the evil monster, Nian, away because of his fear of the color red.

Paper cut-outs representing symbols of “happiness”, “wealth”, “longevity” and “satisfactory marriage with more children” are used to decorate doors and windows.

The eve of the New Year includes a dinner feast for all family members to come together.  After dinner, the whole family sits up for the night and plays games or watches TV programs dedicated to the occasion.  Every light is supposed to be kept on for the entire night.  At midnight, fireworks are lit.  It’s also said that red lanterns and firecrackers are lit to keep bad luck away.

The next day, parents give their children gifts of money wrapped up in red paper packages.  The family starts out saying greetings from door to door, first to relatives, then to neighbors.  This is considered a time of reconciliation.

Fifteen days later, the Feast of Lanterns takes place, marking the end of the New Year season.

Are you ready to throw your own Chinese New Year Party?  Let us help your good fortune with savings on affordable decorations and games.