New Year, Old Tradition

Third & Fourth Day – Families do not visit their relatives because the third day is used to visit family and friends who are deceased. It is also said it’s easy to argue with family on those days.

Fifth Day – It is custom to eat dumplings; businesses re-open accompanied by firecrackers.

Seventh Day – Known as the “common man’s birthday” where everyone grows one year older.

Ninth Day – Prayers are offered to the Jade Emperor of Heaven.

Fifteenth Day – Celebrated as the Lantern Festival, where families walk the street carrying lanterns. It also marks the end of Chinese New Year festivities.

The Lantern Festival itself is a major part of the Chinese New Year. During the festival, children go out at night carrying bright lanterns. In ancient times, emperors and noblemen only carried lanterns that were very simple in design.

But nowadays, the lanterns have become such a big part of the festivities that many of them creative and original pieces of art. For example, lanterns are now often made in shapes of animals.

Traditionally, the Lantern Festival is also used to serve as a day for love and matchmaking, on which an unmarried girl was traditionally permitted to appear in public unescorted and thus be seen by eligible bachelors.

It was one of the few nights in ancient times without a strict curfew. Young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love. Matchmakers acted busily in hopes of pairing couples.

But as time progressed, the festival started to forget its old ways and mainly focus on the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.

It’s always interesting to know more about the culture and ways of other countries and ethnicities, and understanding more about the Chinese New Year can be beneficial.

Instead of just thinking about zodiac signs and fireworks, the holiday can now be seen as a new beginning for a family, and maybe even a country.

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