Chinese New Year

After a 3 week trip in January to Philly to visit with my parents and family, I am now back in Shanghai. This weekend, the 9th of February, is the start of the Lunar New Year  - better known as the Chinese New Year (CNY). For thousands of years most Asian countries have celebrated the Lunar New Year. This holiday is the longest and most important festival in the Chinese calendar.

The CNY is celebrated at the second new moon after the winter solstice. The new year starts on the first day of the new moon and runs for 15 days ending when the moon is its brightest with The Lantern Festival. In China many people  take weeks off from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year. It has become a yearly reminder for the people of the cultural identity and family heritage with customs and traditions that date back for thousands of years. 

It is the biggest travel period in world with tens of millions of people returning to their home towns to celebrate with their families. It is a celebration of family and focuses on well wishes and blessings for a happy and prosperous new year. During this time the family shares in the many rituals and traditions.

Several of these traditions are the decorating and dressing with the color red and setting off fireworks. Long ago according to Chinese legend a terrible creature called "Nian" (also the Character for "year") came every year to attack the people and their livestock. This creature could not be destroyed until one day they discovered that Nian was afraid of three things, noise, the sun and the color red. At the end of the year people made a bonfire, painted their houses red and set off hundreds of firecrackers. Nian was so afraid that it ran away and never troubled the people again. From this time going forward the color red and fireworks has been a big part of the New Years celebration.

The legend of the "Kitchen God" also has a big part in the celebration. According to ancient Chinese beliefs the family stove housed the Kitchen God known as Zao Jun, one of the oldest gods worshipped in China. The god resided year-round in the stove and on the last week of the last month of the year the Kitchen God would ascend to the heavens to give the annual report about the family to the Jade Emperor. His report would determine the family's fortunes for the coming year, so it was important to give him a good send-off. The send-off included offerings of sweet cakes, preserved fruits and sweet wine so he would only report sweet things to say about the family. This legend of the Kitchen God has become an important and colorful figure in the holiday festivities. It is now associated with days and days of many wonderful meals, large family get togethers and many wishes of luck and good fortune.

There is a lot of buzz this week when walking around the city, most people are in an festive mood, the food stores and super markets are packed with all kinds of specialty food items and gift baskets. I will keep you posted as we take part in the Chinese New Year's celebration.