Tag Archives: chinese new year

财气酒 or cái qì jiǔ

Age: 24

TEXT:

“财气酒” or “cái qì jiǔ”

CONTEXT:

Informant- “There’s also fun little like Chinese New Year story about the last sip of wine. So at the New Year’s Eve dinner or any kind of like family family gatherings after everyone has eaten, talked, loved, and toasted, there may be one last sip of one life in the glass or in the bottle. So in many families, people call it cái qì jiǔ, which means fortune wine, or wealth and luck wine. The idea is not really about the alcohol itself. It is about the blessing behind it. So that last step is seen as a little bit of good fortune or money left at the end of the bottle. And if you drink it, it is like taking the remaining luck, wealth, and prosperity and carrying it with you. So if someone said, don’t waste the last step that that’s the fortune wine and pour you a cup of the last one. That means you will gain the last bit of prosperity and wealth. And they will always like say, “oh, may you receive all the good luck and good wealth, get rich.”

ANALYSIS:

This holiday ritual or tradition focuses on wealth and prosperity, as well as community, and act as a way to cement good fortune going forward into the new year. Though it involves wine, I would not specifically classify it as foodways as the tradition itself is not solely based on the dish and more of the remnants of the shared alcohol and the experience of being with one another. I would instead classify it as a ritual surrounding life and maybe even a rite of passage as you enter into a new year of life.

年年有鱼 or nián nián yǒu yu

TEXT: “nián nián yǒu yu” / “年年有鱼”

CONTEXT:

Informant- “This is like a very beloved tradition called nián nián yǒu yu in China during Chinese New Year. So literally it means “may there be fish every year”, but the magic is in the sound of the word. In Chinese, the word for fish is “yu” and it sounds exactly like another word, “yǒu” which means abundance or having extra leftover. So when Chinese families eat fish during the Chinese New Year dinner, they are not just eating a dish, they are making a wish. It’s like saying, “oh, may this year bring us more than enough, always enough food, enough money, enough luck, enough love, and enough happiness to carry into the next year.” And the fish is usually served as whole with the head and tail, because a complete fish represents wholeness and a good opening and a good beginning and ending. So in some families, people do not finish the entire fish on New Year’s Eve. They intentionally leave a little bit because this is like having leftovers and abundance symbolizes that the family will have abundance left over for the coming year. So the fish on the table is not only food, it is a symbol of hope. And it tells a like, simple but beautiful Chinese New Year wish. “May we always have more than we need.”

ANALYSIS:

This Chinese New Year tradition is a symbolic way of setting forth positive intentions for the coming year in hopes of prosperity. This belief that stems from the play on words is reminiscent of the tradition of blowing out birthday candles in hopes for the coming year to be full of happiness and good luck. Beliefs such as this one are cultural and passed down in familial settings across generations.

Sweeping Ritual – Chinese New Year

Age: 21

Collection Date: 03/26/2026

Context:

During an in-class fieldwork activity, my informant, “R,” told me about a ritual tradition his family practices. The ritual is one of many that his family practices during the Chinese New Year season.

Text:

R: During the Chinese New Year, it’s a very cultural and ritual-heavy period of the year. One of the things that we’ll do, and that a lot of the families will do, is you’ll sweep your house, and then you’ll sweep the things out the front door. So you’re basically sweeping out like, you know, the bad spirits or, you know, all the bad luck. You’re getting that out of your house.. So you’re kind of like cleansing the place. So, like, all the bad luck, all the evil kind of goes out the door, you know.  It’s kind of like putting a physical touch on a spiritual belief.

Interviewer: Yeah

Interviewer: Yeah. Is that like more of like a, is it a, like a metaphorical thing or are you like actually sweeping out like dust and like cleaning as well? Like, is it kind of like dual purpose?

R: Yeah, it’s definitely dual purpose. Yeah, like Chinese New Year, you’re definitely cleaning the house, you know, putting up like decorations and stuff like this.  You put out like little clementines and stuff, but. Yeah, you’re definitely sweeping like actual dust out. But with that, you know, you’re sweeping out the evil spirits and all that. There’s more behind it than just like simply cleaning.

Interviewer: So there’s more meaning behind it then just simply cleaning.

R: Double entendre. Exactly.

Interviewer: Is that something that you’d be doing, like your parents would be doing or like the the whole family’s getting involved? What’s that look like?

R: I wouldn’t say that. I mean, I’ve never swept, but like, obviously.

Interviewer: Could you vacuum?  

R: No, like, I’d be cleaning around the house, but it’s my mom that’s sweeping mainly.. But, like, you know, we all help out. It’s definitely, like, a big, big family time. Like you want to help out. You want to spend time with your family. So definitely, yeah.  

Analysis:

The ritual seems to be a form of imitative magic in which the performer performs a physical action that has an “intangible” effect on the spiritual world. The idea, then, is that the change made in the spiritual world would positively impact the real world. The act is also representative. So it would seem to be homeopathic; the performer is literally sweeping the dirt out while also having a profound spiritual effect. This suggests that their culture may view dirt and dust in the house as impurities that do not belong and, like evil spirits, should be dealt with to prevent disorder.

The use of a broom is also interesting. I didn’t get to ask whether it was a special broom, but brooms are seen as having magical elements in English and American culture as well. I’m thinking about the witches’ broomstick, a magical and important element we associate with Halloween. Even in our culture, brooms are symbolic of magic and the spiritual world. But perhaps in Western culture, witches’ association with brooms has more to do with gender norms. Brooms symbolize cleansing and purity, and in most cultures, cleanliness is next to godliness. It seems then that the same idea is kept in Chinese folklore. A clean house has no crevices for demons to hide.

The ritual also functions as a way for families to bond. The ritual and cleaning ceremony bring them close together to achieve a common goal. These are also traditions that are passed down from generation to generation, so all ages are involved and can relate. Older generations might find this a great opportunity to connect with their kids and share some identity. It also seems to help offer some agency over the uncontrollable. My informant explained that it might help prevent bad luck and evil spirits, or smooth out the uncontrollable elements we face in our daily lives.

Based on what I collected, men, women, and children can participate in the ritual. So it is all inclusive and reflects the culture’s view on women and gender roles. Perhaps, this wasn’t always so, but we learn that customs change and adapt to time. The tradition itself has been passed down; my informant views the memory positively. But, it likely isn’t the same ritual his grandparents performed. That highlights the idea that folklore is multifaceted and varied. No two rituals are completely alike, even within the same family.

Chinese New Year Tradition of Family Photos

Text:

Our family’s tradition is that on the first day of Chinese New Year, before dinner, everyone in the family gets dressed up and we take a family photo together. The clothes have to be all new. The tradition started when I was born. At first, my mother wanted everyone to wear red, but over time it relaxed into everyone just wearing whatever they like. So it’s pretty chill now.

Context:

This text was collected from a female Chinese international student from Beijing, who shared it during my interview with her. The practice she describes is a family-specific ritual that takes place on the first day of the Chinese New Year: every family member dresses in brand new clothing and gathers for a collective photograph before the New Year dinner. The tradition was initiated by her mother at the time of the informant’s birth, making it roughly her age and giving it a personal origin she can trace. Originally, the tradition carried a stricter dress code — all red, a color symbolizing luck and prosperity in Chinese culture — but over time, this requirement loosened, and family members now wear new clothes of any color.

Analysis:

This piece exemplifies family lore. The requirement that clothing be entirely new engages the broader Chinese New Year folk belief that newness at the year’s start invites prosperity and signals a clean break from the past, connecting the family ritual to a wider system of folk belief around lucky beginnings. The gradual relaxation of the red dress code is an illustration of multiplicity and variation: the tradition’s core structure remains intact while its specific details shift to accommodate the family’s changing preferences, demonstrating folklore as being simultaneously conservative and dynamic. The mother’s role as the tradition’s originator and enforcer reflects how family folklore is often transmitted through a single authoritative figure whose preferences shape the group’s collective practice. The annual photograph also functions as a form of material culture, producing a tangible archive of the family’s shared identity over time. The timing (before dinner, on the first day of the New Year) gives the ritual the quality of a calendrical rite of passage, formally opening the New Year within the intimate frame of family rather than public celebration.

Chinese New Year – Chun Lian Good Luck

Context:

The informant grew up in a Taiwanese household in the Bay Area. He grew up always celebrating Chinese New Year, a holiday that occurs every February. The holiday celebrates the start of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Text:

“For Chinese New Year, we have, like, a red sheet of paper with Chinese calligraphy on it called Chun Lian. We stick it on the outside of our door, to ward off like evil and also brings in good luck as well.”

I asked, “Is this something that you’ve always done, like, on Chinese New Year.”

“Yeah, like, we did it always growing up.”

“So you just learned it from my parents?”

“Yes, I learned it from my parents.”