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You probably already know that last Sunday was the beginning of the Year of the Monkey in China. To mark this event we wanted you to know more about Chinese customs for the New Year and what a better way to ask, Louise, one of the EazyCity tenants living in Cork?
- Where are you from in China?
I am from Jinan, a city near Beijing in the North part of China.
- In China, do people normally spend New Year’s Eve with their friends or with family?
Traditionally we spend New Year’s Eve and the New Year’s Day with the family. The links with family in China are stronger than in Europe.
- What are the main customs that you could not give up for the New Year in China?
There are many customs. New Year’s Eve is the most important day and we cook together. In my hometown, we cook dumplings (a lot).
In the evening you would put couplets (these red lines) on the sides of the door.
We burn a yellow paper to ancestors for money. And then you also go outside with children who say sentences which mean “ancestors come back home to celebrate the New Year”. Also you welcome your ancestor “came back home” to celebrate together.
At the door, we put a piece of wood at gate in order that bad spirits do not come.
On New Year’s Eve many children prepare their clothes for the day after because they are new and people make sure the beds are done really good.
During the New Year’s celebrations, you give a lot of gifts and money too.
On the Eve and first day, we do many fireworks, because fireworks come from China and some people begin at 8pm on New Year’s Eve but at midnight, it’s at the highest peak: you just hear that!
- Chinese New Year lasts 15 days; are there differences between each day?
Yes, every day is different. I can give you some examples of the most popular days.
On the first day you prepare for the next one, people go to each other’s home to wish Happy New Year to friends who live very close and take some news of them. You share tea and eat snacks together.
On the 2nd day if you are married, you should spend this day with your husband/wife and go to the wife’s family.
3rd day, you begin to go to your relatives; brother, sisters… You give their children an envelope with money.
5th day is called “small new year” because people consider that New Year is nearly over. Dragons
dance can be seen on New Year Day afternoon and also on the 5th as because from the 1st day to the 5th one, people are too busy to go to other homes.
Work holidays are from New Year’s Eve to the 7th and then you go to work on the 8th but some companies like supermarkets work every day and there are also “super companies” closed during the 15 days of the New Year celebrations.
The 15th day, the last one of Chinese New Year is the lanterns day and lanterns festival. Traditionally families put a lantern in front of the door and big and rich families have also some at home. In these lanterns, there is a riddle. Nowadays it’s the government who put lanterns on the street.
- Do some customs depend on the area you live?
In China on New Year Eve, you eat a big meal together and everybody watch’s a TV shows from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. but some customs depend on the area you live.
In my area on New Year’s Day, you don’t eat a meat or fish for example but traditions are changing and many people won’t follow them. On New Year’s Day, you put many snacks on the table and we eat from the morning to the evening. We prepare and do a lot on that day.
- Is it the most popular celebration in China like in Europe with Christmas?
Yes, Chinese New Year is the most popular, number two is mid-autumn.
- What changes in Chinese people’s life during these 15 days of celebration?
The most important during this period is the time spent with family and relatives.
- Every year we celebrate an animal, what does that mean? Are the luckiest people this year the ones we celebrate?
Like some people believe, in the signs of the zodiac there are differences of characters between the animals, every animal is different. The most famous are dragon, pig, horse and monkey.
- Can you speak a bit about the parade? Are all people allowed to participate to the parade?
You have to practice a lot to do the dragon dance because it’s really not easy and you need a team because a dragon is very long, so no, you can’t do it alone or if you didn’t practise before. The date of the dance depends on the team.
- What do you like the most with the Chinese New Year?
New Year’s Eve, staying at home with the family, cooking a lot, making dumplings with my mum.
- How do you celebrate the New Year when you’re away from home?
By travelling. Many people travel around at the New Year, traditions are less and less followed. Most people go home but bus stations before Chinese New Year’s Eve are crowded and tickets are very hard to get. The first day the tickets are sold, it’s half a month before New Year and all bus tickets are gone in few minutes. Before New Year’s Eve, you can go the bus station because people resell them. They cost a lot when they were bought to be sure to have enough because they don’t know how they will organise themselves.
During the several days before the New Year eve, it’s crazy in bus stations! I like travelling not to live those crazy days and spend too much time at stations for going home.
