The Chinese Year is celebrated on the first day of the first lunar month and lasts for 15 days. The Chinese New Year is the major Chinese holiday and is also celebrated throughout Asia, not only in China. There are two cycles that coincide with the Chinese New Year the twelve-year animal zodiac and the ten-year heavenly stems.
The tale behind the Chinese New year is that villagers tried to protect themselves from a mythical beast called Nian or “Year”. Each year on the first day of the New Year the beast would come to eat crops, villagers, livestock and particularly children. Villagers would put out food from Nian and hang red colored lanterns, as Nian was afraid of the color red. Nian eventually was scared off. Now to celebrate the banishment of this creature the New Year is celebrated by hanging red lanterns and using firecrackers.
The most travel in Asia occurs around the Chinese New year as this is a time to visit friends and relative. The day before the New Year the house will be thoroughly cleaned to get rid of last years bad luck and usher in the next year’s good luck. Often time’s individuals will wear new clothes to symbolize a new start.
The first day of the New Year is when families visit the most senior members of their family as well as pray to the deities of heaven and earth. No cooking is done as the use of knives and fire can bring in bad luck. On the second day and married daughters will visit her birth parents. Traditionally she was not able to visit them much so this ensured some time with her parents.
The third and fourth days of the New Year are not traveling says as it is thought that individuals will argue more easily as well as being respectful to the dead particularly or any family that may have died within the past three years. The fifth day dumplings are traditionally eaten, as this say is the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth.
The seventh day is the commons man birthday and it is on this day that everyone turns one year older. Traditionally a raw fish salad is consumes. On the ninth day individuals will pray to the Jade Emperor of Heaven, as this is his birthday. Offerings of sugarcane are made and tea is drunk to honor a particular chosen individual. On the fifteenth day or last day of the New Year. Is the lantern festival where candles are lit outside homes to guide spirits home.