Thursday, December 22, 2011

A Cursory Guide To Asian New Years Traditions

2:29 AM
By Steve Chung


Get facts on the different ancient traditions that the Chinese bring back to life during New Year celebrations.

The Chinese people hold on to their age old traditions with their molar teeth. As a society the people of China take a lot of pride in their culture and tradition and have made all possible efforts to maintain their sacredness by keeping them alive at regular intervals.

The Chinese New Year is a time when you get to see Chinese traditions in full bloom. A hub of traditional activity explodes onto the scene during the first few weeks of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese have a whole set of beliefs and traditional practices with regards to the welcoming of a new year. One can pretty much see how profoundly the age old traditions are entrenched in the Chinese culture by looking at all the traditional practices that are brought into light during New Year celebrations.

There is a deeper explanation behind the revival and intricate celebration of these customary rituals. Knowing the press and how they love to project the celebration world wide, the Chinese understand that it really intrigues the western world. Once the west start taking an interest into these mysterious traditions they come flocking to the country to witness them. Thus China's tourism industry gets a boost from these activities.

If you want to enjoy Chinese New Year you must be present one or two days before the actual date and carry on till the fifteenth day of the month. This is a good time if you have to do business as Chinese people are really cheerful at the time of New Year and are ready to spend a great deal of money.

The house cleaning ritual is part and parcel of New Year tradition. Chinese homes take a new look and everything becomes shining and clean. All this is intended to drive away the misfortune of the previous year and make the house pure for New Year.

You will find doors and windows painted in red color in China during New Year. This is particularly done to keep the house secured from ill happenings and evil spirits as is the tradition.

The New Year is the time when the Chinese adorn their homes with various items which have traditional value. Things like couplets and paper cuttings are supposed to bring prosperity and happiness. They have various other things like paintings, scrolls and wall paper designs as a part of their decorative items.

The New Years Eve holds a special connotation in Chinese culture. This day all the family members come together in one place for dinner. A special dish is made for this meal which is known as jiaozi which has dumpling in the boiling water.

Playing games and watching televisions are few activities that the Chinese enjoy in on the New Years Eve. They watch special programs all night long on the television to remain awake. They also keep the lights on the whole night as they believe that doing so their parents will receive long and healthy life.

The New Year day starts with various interesting activities like exchanging presents and greetings, lantern parade, Kung fu, concerts and so on. These celebrations are carried on for full two weeks. At the end of the fifteenth day they have the fireworks and dragon dance which brings an end to the celebrations on a full moon night.




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