Chinese New Year Customs and Superstitions

Since New Year symbolizes a new beginning, Chinese believe in “out with the old and in with the new” so it’s a time to clean the house up and get rid of cobwebs, dirt and clutter. Decorating the house with auspicious objects like cherry blossoms, potted tangerines, dragons and anything red is a tradition.  The cherry blossom symbolizes love; for people looking for romance, it is believed that if one walks around the cherry blossom a couple of times, they will find love.  Married couples have to refrain from walking around the cherry blossom, as it believed that it might lead to extra marital affairs!

All these is done before New Year and on the eve of New Year, the family gets together for a reunion dinner where auspicious food will be cooked and served.  Reunion dinners are important because it symbolizes unity in the family and eating auspicious food will bring good luck and fortune for the coming year.  Typically, the dinner will have a cooked chicken/duck with its head, feet and everything intact symbolizing a good beginning and end.  There is usually a whole fish as well, symbolizing friendship. Other items that are prepared are noodles for long life, dried oysters and moss for prosperity, and a dish with lettuce since the Chinese sound for lettuce means “alive”.  After dinner, a Chinese dessert will be served in a form of a sweet soup with dumplings symbolizing a sweet and perfect year ahead.  Members of the family will stay up until mid-night to welcome in the God of Prosperity by leaving the lights and front door open.  Offerings are made to the God of Prosperity and a small prayer made to invite him to the house. The Kitchen God is also served a sumptuous meal believing that he will have good things to report back to the higher authority.

On the first day of the New Year, all brooms are put away and sweeping or emptying the trash is not allowed so that the good luck that comes to the house will not be swept or thrown away.  Washing your clothes or hair is believed to wash away all the good luck and fortune that comes your way. It is believed that quarrels and breaking of objects will bring bad luck for the rest of the year.  It is also customary to give out little red packets with money called “lai see” (meaning everything goes well), to children and friends.

Analysis:

Ms. Yong first learned about all this as a child growing up in Malaysia.  “My parents were very traditional and made sure we follow all these traditions/superstitions till now.  I still try to practice since there’s no harm done and it’s a way of preserving our culture.  I personally still enjoy the New Year since it’s a time for family to get together and it gives us hope that the New Year will bring new beginnings”.

My mother spent her whole life in Asia until about ten years ago when my immediate family moved to the United States.  When we were in Asia, I think these traditions were easier to practice, although we still do some of the ones she listed.  I always received, and still do, lai see packets around the end of January, when Chinese New Year started.  Before I was able to get the red packet, however, my mom would always make me say “Gung hei fat choy!”  meaning, “Happy New Year!”  When I was in about third or fourth grade, I remember my Mandarin teacher telling me to add “lai see dow loy” to the end of it, basically meaning “now let me have the red packet!”   This is not usually appropriate to say, but as a little kid one can normally get away with it.  I also remember my mom telling me not to sweep, clean, wash clothes, and the like on actual New Years Day in fear of washing the good fortune away.  She was very superstitious and aware of these things, but I usually forgot. My mother still decorates our entire house with red decorations during the New Year; chocolate gold coins, tangerines, as well as lai see packets are some of the other common embellishments.

It is interesting learning about Chinese traditions, mainly because they all seem to revolve around food.  This doesn’t come as a shock to most people. K.C. Chang in his article Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives notes,

“…few can take exception to the statement that few other cultures are as food oriented as the Chinese. And this orientation appears to be as ancient as Chinese culture itself. According to Lun yu, when the duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius (551-479 B.C.) about military tactics, Confucius replied, “I have indeed heard about matters pertaining to tsu (meat stand) and tou (meat platter), but I have not learned military matters.”

Food often times takes precedence over other issues, maybe because it is essential to survival.  Food also brings people together so holidays are normally celebrated with extended family in Chinese society.  The process of cooking these meals and recipes used is a whole other branch of folklore that can be explored. Since Chinese civilization is one of the oldest to date, they have experimented with different foods, many of which are disturbing to outsiders.  Some of these dishes include dog, snake blood, and cat.  They are also fond of eating every part of the animal, including organs and appendages.

Brooms are also common in Chinese folklore.  They are only used for cleaning purposes in Chinese culture, never for games or playing. Cleaning religious objects with brooms is thought of as disrespectful.  Additionally, beating someone with a broom with bring bad luck upon them.

Some of these Chinese New Year rituals and superstitions are documented in Creating Circles & Ceremonies: Rituals for All Seasons And Reasons. They do not mention, however, some of the superstitions such as walking around the cherry blossom as was pointed out by Ms. Yong.

Annotation:

Zell-Ravenheart, Oberon, and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart. Creating Circles & Ceremonies: Rituals for All Seasons And Reasons. Career Press, 2006. Page 112

New Years is a very important occasion in Vietnam. The date varies every year because it is determined by the Lunar Calendar. Nguyen Thien Nga who grew up in Saigon explained to me how her family used to celebrate and bring in the New Year.

New Years symbolizes getting rid of what has occurred in the past year. Everyone goes to great lengths to make everything spotless and makes the occasion incredibly upbeat and happy. The house is very ornately decorated. There are huge bouquets of flowers, and large bowls of fruit that fill the house and represent a healthy new year. Particularly the flowers tend to be red and this represents the color of royalty and wealth. In addition children are given red envelopes with monetary gifts inside. It is very essential that the money is brand new in order to have a good new year and as a result all the adults go to the bank to get new money. The older the person is, the more money he or she gives.

It is also very important to make amends and settle debts before the New Year comes around. It is bad luck if one does not repay a debt from the past year. If a debt is not repaid before the New Year than the person who is owed money is meant to approach the debtor about the money owed and bad luck will occur as a result of this. Luck is a prominent part in the three day celebration and people follow many specifications and put great consideration and thought into details to try and ensure a good New Year.

A traditional food eaten on the occasion is sticky rice that is placed in banana leaves. It originated from an event that took place many years ago. Back in the day there existed a king who had eighteen sons and before he died, he wanted to decide which one of them was apt to take over his position. He commanded all the boys to prepare a special dish and interpret it. They went out into the mountains for inspiration. One of the boys chose to use banana leaves which he arranged as a square. He filled the interior with sticky rice and meat and then folded it up. He called it Banh Chung. In addition he made a round, sticky steamed cake made of rice powder and sweet beans. It is called Banh Giay. The brothers called him foolish as they felt these creations were too earthy. However, he was selected as the father to be the next in line as his items were very affordable and it was within everyone’s reach to make them. These food items have been passed down since and are even made it today. The round cake represents the sun and the square dish is symbolic of the earth.

Since immigrating to San Diego, for practical purposes, Nguyen Thien Nga celebrates the New Year on the weekend closest to the Lunar date whereas in Vietnam it is a three day celebration where everything closes down for the occasion.

I think it is important to continue the rituals of one’s hometown even at after

immigrating to a new country. Obviously it is more difficult to uphold all the customs as the United States does not give three days off to celebrate the holiday but it still essential to uphold traditions as it sustains one’s background and culture.

Ann Jurkowski, a family friend, described the Scottish New Years in detail as there are many unique aspects to it. A main feature of this event is termed “first footing”. Every person is meant to take a piece of their own coal and at midnight distribute it to other people to use in their houses. Often times people do not know from which neighbor the coal comes from. However it is useful as the weather is miserable and so people use the coal to furnish their fires.

Ann commented that the entire event is just “good fun”. It has no restrictions on who can enjoy the excitement of the holiday and is very social. A nice gesture that many people undertake on this holiday is delivering coal to someone who may not have anyone to celebrate the New Year with. As opposed to the United States where people hold individual celebrations and people have to be invited to attend, in Scotland everyone keeps their door unlocked as there are no limitations in any regard. Therefore the New Year brings in a time of spirit but additionally it brings in a sense of unity for all.

I believe that this holiday represents more of what the New Year should be celebrating. It connects the people of Scotland and allows involvement with all types of people. The New Year should be about making change for the improvement of society and appreciation for the past year. By allowing all to be included it shows that although we may all follow different paths, and have varying levels of prosperity and happiness, we all have hopes for an even better new year. This commonality allows a sense of community for all.