Chinesse Customs
Chinesse Customs
Chinesse Customs
1. Dirty Doings
Put your feet up and relax. Certainly the most enjoyable of the Chinese New Year
superstitions, sweeping and cleaning is strictly forbidden. The Chinese believe cleaning
means you'll sweep all of your good luck out the front door.
4. Choppy Waters
Make sure you avoid rough seas in the new year by not buying shoes over the holiday
period. In Cantonese, shoes are a homonym for 'rough'.
6. Ghostly Conversations
Caught round a campfire over the holiday period? No ghost stories. Tales of death,
dying and ghosts is considered supremely inauspicious, especially during Chinese New
Year.
7. Lady in Red
Chinese New Year is packed with colors, and while all the colors of the rainbow bring
good luck, it's the color red that is considered the ultimate luck bringer.
8. Sweet Year
Hong Kongers have a sweet touch at the best of times, but Chinese New Year offers the
perfect chance to raid the sweet shop, as eating candies is said to deliver a sweeter
year.
Kitchen God
After the house was cleaned it was time to bid farewell to the Kitchen God, or
Zaowang. In traditional China, the Kitchen God was regarded as the guardian of the
family hearth. He was identified as the inventor of fire, which was necessary for cooking
and was also the censor of household morals. By tradition, the Kitchen God left the
house on the 23rd of the last month to report to heaven on the behavior of the family. At
this time, the family did everything possible to obtain a favorable report from the Kitchen
God. On the evening of the 23rd, the family would give the Kitchen God a ritualistic
farewell dinner with sweet foods and honey. Some said this was a bribe, others said it
sealed his mouth from saying bad thins.
Free from the every-watchful eyes of the Kitchen God, who was supposed to return on
the first day of the New Year, the family now prepared for the upcoming celebrations. In
old China, stores closed shop on the last two or three days of the year and remained
closed for the first week of the New Year. Consequently, families were busy in the last
week of the old year stocking up on foods and gifts. Chinese New Year presents are
similar in spirit to Christmas presents, although the Chinese tended more often to give
food items, such as fruits and tea. The last days of the old year was also the time to
settle accumulated. debts.
Family Celebration
On the last day of the old year, everyone was busy either in preparing food for the next
two days, or in going to the barbers and getting tidied up for the New Year’s Day.
Tradition stipulated that all food be pre-pared before the New Year’s Day, so that all
sharp instruments, such as knives and scissors, could be put away to avoid cutting the
"luck" of the New Year. The kitchen and well were not to be disturbed on the first day of
the Year.
The New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations were strickly family affairs. All
members of the family would gather for the important family meal on the evening of the
New year’s Eve. Even if a family member could not attend, an empty seat would be kept
to symbolize that person’s presence at the banquet. At midnight following the banquet,
the younger members of the family would bow and pay their respects to their parents
and elders.
Lai-See
On New Year’s Day, the children were given Red Lai-See Envelopes , good luck money
wrapped in little red envelopes. On New Year’s day, everyone had on new clothes, and
would put on his best behavior. It was considered improper to tell a lie, raise one’s voice,
use indecent language, or break anything on the first day of the year.
Starting from the second day, people began going out to visit friends and relatives,
taking with them gifts and Lai-See for the children. Visitors would be greeted with
traditional New year delicacies, such as melon seeds, flowers, fruits, tray of
togetherness, and NIANGAO, New Year cakes.
Everybody’s Birthday
The entire first week was a time for socializing and amusement. On the streets, the
stores were closed and an air of gaiety prevailed. There were numberous lion dances,
acrobats, theatrical shows, and other diversions. Firecrackers, which symbolized driving
away evil spirits, were heard throughout the first two weeks of the New year. The
Seventh Day of the New Year was called "everybody’s birthday" as everyone was
considered one year older as of that date. (In traditional China, individual birthdays were
not considered as important as the New Year’s date. Everyone added a year to his age
at New Year’s time rather than at his birthday.)
The Chinse New Year celebration in San Francisco Chinatown and other Chinese
American communitites should not be interpreted as direct transplants of Chinese
culture. Due to differences in their social environment and physical limitations, these
local celebrations have developed special characteristics of their own. Along with old
customs imported directly from China, the Chinatown celebrations also contain
adaptations from other cultures in the United States.
Traditional vs Modern
The first point to be noticed in comparing the Chinatown celebrations of today to that
described in the preceeding section is that they have been shortened or simplified.
Chinese American stores in this country do not close for a week to celebrate, nor is is
likely that a Chinese American could take two weeks off from work. Therefore, many of
the festivities have been adapted for the evenings or the weekends. This includes the
social visits, the family dinners, and even the Chinatown parade, which is always held on
a Saturday. In many Chinese American homes, the annual housecleaning is still done at
New Year’s time. Spring Couplets can be seen in Chinatwon stores everywhere, but
these are now bought from the Chinse Hospital as a fundraising effort - an interesting
variation on an old Chinese custom.
In addition to the Spring Couplets, the Chinatown lion dances have also been promoted
as a fundraising event for the Chinese Hospital. In the earlier days of Chinatown, lion
dances were relatively rare. In the 1920’s, a fundraising program was started whereby
lion dancers would go from store to store to dance and wish them luck. In return,
storekeepers would give Lai-see packets which were donated to the Chinese Hospital.
Flowers: Flowers are an important part of the New year decorations. In old China, much use
was made of natural products in celebrations as well as in daily life. The two flowers most
associated with the New Year are the plum blossom and the water narcissus
Lai-See Envelopes: (Also called Hong-Bao) Money is placed in these envelopes and given
to children and young adults at New Year’s time, much in the spirit as Christmas presents.
Presents are also often exchanged between families.
Lucky Character : The single word " FOOK ", or fortune, is often displayed in
many homes and stores. They are usually written by brush on a diamond-shaped
piece of red paper.
Plum Blossoms: stand for courage and hope. The blossoms burst forth at the end of winter
on a seemingly lifeless branch. In Chinese art, plum blossoms are associated with the entire
season of winter and not just the New Year.
Spring Couplets : Spring couplets are traditionally written with black ink on red
paper. They are hung in storefronts in the month before the New Year’s Day, and
often stay up for two months. They express best wishes and fortune for the coming
year. There is a great variety in the writing of these poetic couplets to fit the situation.
A store would generally use couplets hat make references to their line of trade.
Couplets that say "Happy New Year" and " Continuing Advancement in Education"
are apprpriate for a school.
SweepingOut the Old: Welcoming in the New: Old business from the past year is cleared
up
Water Narcissus : Flower that blossoms at New Year’s time. If the white flowers blossom
exactly on the day of the New Year, it is believed to indicate good fortune for the ensuing twelve
months.
Chinese Zodiac: The rotating cycle of twelve animal signs was a fok method for
naming the years in traditional China. The animal signs for one another in an
established order, and are repeated every twelve years. 1976 was the Year of the
Dragon, 1977 was the year of the Snake.
This teacher’s guide, produced as part of the Ethnic Heritage Studies Project
of the Chinese Culture Foundation, is an effort to develop teaching materials
on the Chinese New Year festival suitable for use in secondary schools. This
teacher’s guide was written by Joe Huang. Requests for information
concerning this manual or the Ethnic Heritage Studies Project should be
addressed to the Chinese Culture Foundation, 750 Kearny Street, San
Francisco, CA 94108.