Chinese New Year 2009
Chinese New Year 2009 falls on 26th of January and will mark the 15 day long festivities going on till the 9th of February. The Chinese New Year is celebrated as the symbol of spring's celebration. In fact in China the Chinese New Year is still called the Spring festival. It is celebrated after the fall harvest and before the spring planting season. The date of the Chinese New Year is always changing and is dependant on the Chinese calendar.
The Chinese New Year is all about symbols of prosperity, good fortune, and good health. Hence the scramble for lucky charms, golden Buddhas, and tiny golden bells to ring are used to bring in the good luck of the new year. Also in the year of the Ox, anything jade is certain to attract the good fortunes in the coming year, while keeping water flowing is said to bring in great wealth.
Prior to the first day of the New Year it is customary for families to thoroughly clean their homes from top to bottom. Doing this is said to clear out any back luck from the previous year and to ready the house to accept good luck for the coming year. All cleaning must be finished before New Years Day so there is no chance of accidentally throwing out the good fortune of the new year. "Before New Years Day you want to buy new clothes or cut your hair" in order to have a fresh start. Wearing black is not allowed due to its association with death, however, wearing red is encouraged as the color is associated with warding off bad spirits.
On the eve of the Chinese New Year it is customary to visit with relatives and partake in a large dinner where a number of specific foods are served.
Typically families do eight or nine dishes because they are lucky numbers,"A lot of the foods are very symbolic," Some popular foods include: dumplings ("because they look like golden nuggets"), oranges ("because they are perfectly round, symbolizing completeness and wholeness"), and long noodles ("served to symbolize long life").
Sticky rice cakes and sweets are also served and are tied to a story about the Kitchen God-- a Santa Claus-like figure who reports to the Jade Emperor in heaven on whether families have been good or bad through the course of the year. According to legend, when families serve the Kitchen God sticky, delicious foods, his mouth gets stuck together and therefore he cannot report any bad things about the family to the Jade Emperor.
Sticky rice cakes and sweets are also served and are tied to a story about the Kitchen God-- a Santa Claus-like figure who reports to the Jade Emperor in heaven on whether families have been good or bad through the course of the year. According to legend, when families serve the Kitchen God sticky, delicious foods, his mouth gets stuck together and therefore he cannot report any bad things about the family to the Jade Emperor.
Researching for this article, I've learned so much more about the Chinese culture, I feel very lucky to live in a city with such cultural diversity.
