Chinese New Year

 

Giovanni De Sio Cesari

www.giovannidesio.it

 

 

On February 10th this year falls the Chinese New Year: it is also celebrated in many other neighboring nations such as Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, and of course, in all the Chinese communities scattered around the world.

Chinese New Year (Nónglì xīnnián), according to the ancient Chinese calendar which is lunar (but only predominantly), falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, therefore between January 21st and February 19th of our calendar. It is a movable date, therefore, following the phases of the moon like our Easter. It is also called "Spring Festival" (Chūnjié) although it falls in the middle of winter: according to agricultural life, in fact, it coincides with the time when agricultural work almost completely ceases and spring is awaited. It lasts for 15 days and ends with the Lantern Festival (yuánxiāojié). Naturally, only some of these days are considered holidays, with the closure of schools and work activities varying according to the states; in China, the first three days are considered holidays.

Each year is named after an animal according to a cycle of 12 years: this is the year of the dragon (Chou). The traditional Chinese calendar remained in effect until the end of the empire and was then replaced by the Western one, currently in use.

It is a period of festivities comparable to our typically family-oriented Christmas holidays, with relatives gathering for auspicious banquets where characteristic foods are consumed (especially chicken-based): for some time now, all means of transportation in China have been overwhelmed by the return of workers from big cities to their hometowns.

Traditionally, gifts are exchanged in red-colored packages because red is considered the color of good luck in China, and they are usually given to married couples: however, the packages do not contain gifts but metal coins, according to tradition (sometimes, nowadays, also banknotes).

Chinese New Year is celebrated, of course, with fireworks, which are an ancient Chinese invention and in which the Chinese still excel worldwide. There are also dances, the most famous being the lion dance, which, like the fireworks, had the ritual purpose of driving away evil spirits that were a real nightmare for the Chinese. Everything in China was built to keep them away: door entrances were raised to prevent them from entering, houses had openings in the walls to allow them to exit, even bridges were zigzagged so they could not cross them.