Category Archives: Festival

Chinese New Year – Folk Origin Myth

Nationality: Chinese and American
Age: 20
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Context:

My informant is from China. In China they celebrate Chinese New Year, otherwise known as Lunar New Year, which is the most important traditional holiday in their culture. Lunar New Year, marking the start of the lunar calendar year, is said to symbolize a fresh start and the opportunity to leave bad luck behind and welcome what the new year has to offer. The lunar calendar follows the moon’s monthly cycles and is about 354 days, making a leap month necessary to stay in line with the seasons. Lunar New Year is widely celebrated in many other East and Southeast Asian countries. Its significance lies in the blending of ancient traditions with modern day practices.

Conversation pulled from audio:
Informant:

“This is like a Chinese New Year’s story, basically. Like why you have to put like you have to have fireworks and like you have to put up like red stuff or wear red on Chinese New Year’s. It’s because like basically there was like a town in the past that was like always like attacked by like I was like tormented, I guess, whatever, like by a monster that lived in the mountains and it would come down once a year to like eat people. And basically like they realized that like by setting bamboo on fire, it causes like a bang, like a really like loud popping and like banging sound. And like the monster would be like scared of the sound. And then they also realized that like the monster was like scared of red because it’s like really it’s like looks like fire, right? And then so, but this is really out of order, but you guys can Polish it.

{ 1:01 }
And so like they did these things and then the monster would like stay away. And like when it did come down, it would like run away. So yeah.

Me: { 1:10 }
The red scared it off?

Informant: { 1:14 }
The red and then the firecrackers because it’s like when you set the bamboo on fire, it like kind of sounds like a firecracker.

Me: { 1:19 }
A ritual. Gotcha. I like that. That’s awesome. Thank you so much.”

Analysis:

Is this story true? Who knows. That’s what makes it a folk myth. Does it even matter if it’s true? I don’t think so. I find it interesting nonetheless. The fact that my informant was told this story as a child as the origin of Chinese New Year is all that matters. That’s what makes it folklore because this story has been pasted down by the folk, true or not.

What I find interesting is it’s explanations for why people wear red and light firecrackers during this holiday. The monster, symbolic or not, is scared away by the color red and the lighting of firecrackers because it’s scared of fire. Is this symbolic? I think so. I think it could represent bad luck, chaos, hardship, or winter and with the new year you celebrate to ward these things off. Often in folklore monsters are used to represent natural or social fears. This monster could also represent the warding off of doubts about the new year and struggles like famine and fear of invasion from the closing year.

Behind Chinese New Year

AGE: 20

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 04/01/2025

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: Taiwanese-American 

OCCUPATION: Student 

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: San Jose, CA

Interviewer: Are there any distinct folktales or myths that you grew up hearing about?

MS: “One was about this lady on the moon, and another was the story of Chinese New Year and the reasons for the different traditions.”

Interviewer: Can you expand a little bit more on the second story?

MS: “I was told that there was this dragon that would come and haunt this village. And every year the people of the town would evacuate the village, until one year this grandma was too old to walk up the mountain and evacuate. So she lit firecrackers and put red all over everyone’s door…to make it look like blood, I guess…and she successfully scared away the dragon. And when everyone came back down, they noticed she was still alive, and so that’s where the tradition began.”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

I think it’s safe to say that most people in America (and definitely countries where Lunar New Year is celebrated) know what Chinese New Year is and the typical decorations and celebrations that take place. And even though every year growing up I had attended my high school’s Chinese New Year festival, I never really quite knew why everything was the way that it was. It’s incredibly interesting to learn where certain traditions, especially one as big as this, come from. I would love to hear a little bit more about this said dragon and maybe dive deeper into this tradition’s history, but this explanation shows (to me at least) that there were definitely real fears that occurred back then, that via word of mouth, traveled and transformed into what this tradition is today.

Tangyuan (Sticky Rice Ball), Chinese Dessert Served at Dongzhi Festival

Text: 

“I remember my mom staying up on the eve of Dongzhi to make Tangyuan without filling, so everyone of our family could get up the next morning with a bowl of hot Tangyuan boiled with brown sugar and water. Our Dongzhi day started with soup Tangyuan. And that night when our family celebrated reunion, everyone joined in molding Tangyuan into balls as a family event. The ball shape, or round shape in China, is usually associated with the wish for ‘团圆’, which literally means reunion. The Tangyuan we made during Dongzhi dinner actually didn’t matter as a food, you could eat them whenever you wanted, because what actually mattered was the process of our family making Tangyuan together.”

Context: 

The informant is a 22-year-old female who currently studies in Singapore and grew up in Swabue, a coastal city in Guangdong, China. The informant spent every Dongzhi festival (Winter Solstice dated in the Chinese solar calendar) with her family before attending college. Tangyuan is a Chinese dessert made of sticky rice containing filling such as sesame paste, molded into balls. Whereas Tangyuan is usually associated with the Yuanxiao festival, the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the informant remembers Tangyuan as a signature dish for Dongzhi. The Dongzhi dinner is an annual reunion commonly seen in Chinese families, and the informant’s family is from Swabue specifically, where people traditionally favor Tangyuan without filling.

Interpretation: 

Dongzhi is a special day of the year according to most Chinese families. Historically in ancient agricultural practice, Chinese farmers planned their years working in the fields according to the Chinese solar calendar. As a marker for the beginning of winter when farmers usually ceased agricultural work, hence Dongzhi is traditionally a time for family members to gather and start spending the rest of the winter together. To celebrate a year’s hard work and the family’s reunion, Dongzhi dinner is an identifying Chinese folk experience, but the experience can vary among different locales. In the informant’s case, her signature Dongzhi food is Tangyuan without filling, whereas people from different parts of China may have Tangyuan with sweet filling, or savory, meat filling, or even enjoy other food at Dongzhi such as dumplings. 

In addition to her filling-less Tangyuan, the informant found her Dongzhi experience special because Tangyuan was enjoyed twice with nuanced intentions. On the morning of Dongzhi, the family enjoyed soup Tangyuan prepared last night by her mother, and this was when the food itself mattered the most. During or sometimes after the Dongzhi dinner, the family made Tangyuan together again, but this time the process mattered more. The round shape of Tangyuan is usually associated with the Mandarin word “Tuán Yuán” (“团圆”, both characters mean roundness separately, when joined together they usually suggest family reunion). Consequently, starting the day with Tangyuan symbolized when the best wishes for “Tuán Yuán” began, and this is when “团圆” was reflected symbolically through consuming Tangyuan. Whereas, in the latter case, family members joining each other to work towards the same goal reflected “Tuán Yuán” factually. As a result, the informant remembers Tangyuan with the theme of “Tuán Yuán” in mind ever since she was little, making Tangyuan the central part of the Dongzhi festival experience.

Poon Choi, One-Pot Cantonese Festival Dish

Text: 

“Since I can remember, my family has been ordering Poon Choi from local Cantonese restaurants on the eve of Chinese New Year, and I’ve always considered Poon Choi as the centerpiece of the dinner we had on New Year’s Eve. Poon Choi is this one-pot Cantonese dish made up of ingredients such as chicken, fish maw, crab, dried fungi, and other expensive proteins and seafood. I believe each ingredient was usually cooked in a way that symbolized something, or the name itself was a pun for a wish, such as ‘may you be prosperous’. I can’t remember every wish in Poon Choi, and the ingredients can differ, but the point is Poon Choi is a luxury that is usually enjoyed on New Year’s Eve only.”

Context: 

The informant is a 22-year-old female who was born and raised in Foshan (a city in Guangdong province, China) and currently studies at USC. Before attending USC, the informant spend every Chinese New Year with her family, and as a typical Cantonese family, her family considered Poon Choi as a New Year’s Eve “must-have”. According to the informant, Poon Choi (“盆菜”, “盆” refers to the pot containing the dish, “菜” means dish literally) is usually not delicious because when cooked in one pot, the ingredients’ taste mixed up. However, Poon Choi assembles a variety of expensive ingredients and has traditionally been the most significant Cantonese dish to wrap up a year.

Interpretation: 

Though the name Poon Choi was literal, the ingredients in Poon Choi are usually puns referring to different New Year’s wishes. The informant listed a few ingredients she remembered seeing in the Poon Choi she had, and each of them was there for a reason. For instance, in Poon Choi there usually was this dish called “Pig Trotter Brewed with Fat Choy”, and Fat Choy is a dried vegetable named “发菜”, traditionally used in the pun for “发财” (pronounced as “Fā Cái”, which is similar to the pronunciation of Fat Choy and means becoming rich). The combination of pig trotter and Fat Choy symbolically represents the wish for “wealth in the grip”, with “grip” reflected in the pig trotter and “wealth” suggested in the pun. 

Besides symbolism, the expensive ingredients in Poon Choi were included to highlight the luxury theme, including dried fungi, fish maw, shark fin, and dried abalone. Ending the past year with a luxurious meal involving Poon Choi was considered a reward for a year’s hard work and the best way to celebrate the coming year. Surprisingly, none of the informant’s family actually enjoyed Poon Choi’s flavor, but they never spend one New Year’s Eve’s dinner without Poon Choi. Self-identified as a typical Cantonese family, the informant thought her family prepared Poon Choi to uphold a renowned Cantonese tradition fully intentionally because Poon Choi must be ordered weeks in advance.

Welcoming the God of Wealth on the 5th Day of the Chinese New Year

Text: 

“On the 5th day of the Chinese New Year, my family used to have this ritual to welcome the God of Wealth into our home because the 5th day of the New Year is believed to be the birthday of the God of Wealth. We set off fireworks before they were banned, had a feast, and worshipped a portrait of the God of Wealth on this Buddha altar we had in our home which usually closeted a Buddha statue. Our worshipping usually involved burning incense and pouring him a cup of Chinese liquor. Though I believe the God of Wealth was not actually a Buddhist god, my family didn’t believe in either and it was rather a casual superstition to wish for prosperity in the following year.”

Context: 

The informant is a 23-year-old female who was born and raised in Guangzhou (the capital city of Guangdong province in China), and is currently a graduate student at USC. Her family is a typical Cantonese family that values tradition and according to her, is a little superstitious. Due to fire hazards, fireworks are now not allowed in cities like Guangzhou, so her most vivid memory of welcoming the God of Wealth dates back to when she was a child. The informant openly expressed her nostalgia for a grand celebration as a remnant of the past.

Interpretation: 

Though most Chinese families are atheists, worshiping the God of Wealth is more of a casual superstition and is often considered a part of the Chinese New Year celebration. This was reflected in the informant’s case, given how the family had a Buddha altar and placed the portrait of the God of Wealth there, yet they believed in neither Buddhism nor Taoism (the God of Wealth is considered a Taoist god). Wishing upon Buddha and the God of Wealth was a superstitious ritual carried out lightheartedly to wish for good fortune and prosperity, the typical wishes for a new year. 

On a personal level, this memory mattered to the informant because it reminded her childhood, her time spent with her family, and the many celebrations that had been lost as she grew up including fireworks. Today’s public discourse on Chinese mainstream media frequently complains about why the celebration of traditional festivals, most notably Chinese New Year, doesn’t feel as grand and enjoyable as it used to be. The informant acknowledged and agreed that the past was already lost, and spoke of this specific experience she used to have once a year nostalgically.