Wednesday 5 February 2014

Chinese New Year: Nian

http://thetigerchronicle.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/CNY

Does anyone wonder why the most important Chinese meal takes place on New Year's eve, rather than on New Year's Day?  A very important reason has to do with an ancient story of how New Year's Day celebration came about.


The Chinese word for 'year' is 'nian' (年), which happens to be the same name for the ancient monster that used to terrorise people on New Year's eve.  Hence, the family dinner that takes place on New Year's eve ensures that everyone in the family is present at the same place to survive the terrible ordeal of facing the monster together.


Since the story is an ancient one, there are a few different variations but the gist of the story remains the same.


Therefore, on Chinese New Year's Day (this year it took place on January 31st), the Chinese people would celebrate having chased away the beast, 'nian', with a joyous fanfare of firecrackers, loud music and dances (through the lion dance and dragon dance), feasting, and good wishes to everyone.  Tiger got up early on Chinese New Year's Day and made me a card.  He took inspiration from the bowl of tangerines and drew a man eating a tangerine on the cover:


He was given a red packet with some money in it.  At Chinese New Year, the young and unmarried usually receives red packets from their elders or married relatives.


The red packet signifies a form of good wishes and protection from the elders to the youngsters.  The amount of money in each packet depends on the relationship between the giver and the receiver, but the sum in each packet must always be an even number (but not contain the number 4, which is associated with death in the Chinese belief). The number 8 is extremely popular for the Chinese, because the pronounciation of the number 8, "ba" (八), is very similar to that of "fa" (发) which means to prosper.  The Chinese belief in numerology is another big topic on its own, but you'll get an overview of it here:


Just out of interest: the concept of lucky numbers is not unique to the Chinese.  Apparently, the West has its own idea of certain numbers being luckier than others:




This post is linked up to:
  1. Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #12
  2. Hip Homeschool Hop (2/4/14)
  3. History and Geography Meme: China activities for elementary
  4. Entertaining and Educational - Chinese Paper Cutting
  5. Collage Friday: Interest-led Learning Within a Classical Framework
  6. Weekly Wrap-up: The One Where We Kept a Baby and Still Got Stuff Done
  7. The Homeschool Mother's Journal {February 8, 2014}
  8. Chinese Activities Link Up 

12 comments:

  1. I'm so behind on my blog reading and you've been so busy, Hwee! I'll have a proper indulgent read of all your wonderful Chinese posts next week. We are so busy researching and discussing where we all want to go in our little homeschool, that I don't seem to have any time left for enjoyable blog reading! Please bear with me, I'll be back to normal next week (I've put a much needed time limit on my research!)
    All your posts look wonderful, though!!

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    1. Don't worry about it, Claire! Research is very important, especially when it comes to determining the direction of your homeschool. The posts will still be here when you have time. :-)

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  2. I'm really enjoying your CNY series - it's such an informative and fun resource. I just love that shadow puppet animation about the Chinese zodiac!

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    1. Oops, I think I've put the wrong video on the post! It's meant for another post on the zodiac. Oh well. I'm glad you enjoy it. :-)

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  3. I remember getting the envelopes as a kid, and it was a lot of fun.

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    1. Indeed! Children are the happiest when they receive the red envelopes. :-)

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  4. I've thoroughly enjoyed all these posts, Hwee - thank you! I'm bookmarking them all and shall plan to spend more time learning about Chinese New Year next time around.

    Someone once told me I have a very auspicious birthday - it's 8 August. I can see why now! (Although Princess Eugenie, who was born on my 18th birthday, is even luckier, having a birthdate of 8.8.88!)

    It's good to see how much you've enjoyed your celebrations. I have appreciated very much the insight into the Chinese culture you have given us. :-)

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    1. Wow, your birthday sure lands on a very auspicious date, more so for Princess Eugenie! I don't know whether it is true, but I've heard that nowadays some very rich pregnant Chinese women timed their child's birth to coincide with ausicious dates such as these. Anything for a lucky number! :-)

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  5. Sweet!! We are studying China next week and I am very thankful to have bumped into this post!! Thank you for the resources!

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    1. You're welcome, Kay. Have fun learning! :-)

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  6. Really enjoyed this post, there was lots of information new to me :)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Debbie. I'm glad you've enjoyed the post. :-)

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