By Niya Diamo
Spring Festival is the alternative name of the Chinese New Year. Unlike most of the world which has adopted the arithmetical Gregorian calendar, the Chinese use a lunar calendar according to which the New Year begins with the New Moon on the first day of the New Year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day is known as the Lantern Festival, celebrated with lantern displays and a parade.
Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most significant of the traditional Chinese holidays. During the celebrations, people would wear red clothes, as red carries positive connotations and it is associated with success, fortune and happiness. One of the key celebration elements is the Dragon dance, which symbolises the bringing of luck and success into the coming year. Exchanging gifts and greeting cards are also typical for the period of the Spring Festival.
The first three days, people visit their families, relatives and friends. On the fifth day people shoot off firecrackers, in the attempt to get Guan Yu's attention (the God of wealth), thus ensuring his favour and good fortune for the New Year. The seventh day is the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older. The eighth, ninth day and tenth day are a celebration of the birth of the Jade Emperor. The thirteenth day is dedicated to the Chinese God of War. And the last day of the Spring Festival, the fifteenth day, is the Lantern Festival, when families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns. This day often marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.
Although the Chinese calendar traditionally does not use numbered years, outside China the years are often numbered from the reign of the Yellow Emperor, Huangdi, making the year 2010 "Chinese Year" 4707.Labels: cueafs |
