The most significant festival for Chinese people and the most generally observed holiday worldwide is Chinese New Year. People attend this annual festival with tremendous passion through a variety of events, some of which are a thousand-year-old tradition. Get the top suggestions for the most well-liked Chinese New Year activities right away.
Top 12 Traditional Chinese New Year Activities
1. Clean and decorate the house with red things
In Vietnam , people usually clean and decorate their house a few days before Tet. But according to China Highlights, Chinese people usually do it on New Year’s Eve.
Keeping the house clean is said to symbolize sweeping away the bad luck of the previous year and preparing the house for good luck.
With the concept that red symbolizes prosperity and energy, the Chinese decorate their homes with red things such as red lanterns, red spring couplets, Tet paintings… to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings, health, longevity, and peace.
2. Year-end shopping
One of the biggest Chinese New Year activities must be shopping. Nearly 10 days before New Year’s Eve, crowds are typical in markets and shopping centers during this time. New clothing, red decorations, meat, food for the kids, and firecrackers are the major items people purchase. Moreover, the grocery list must include candy, peanuts, and sunflower seeds. Nowadays, a lot of people choose to purchase online since it is more convenient, and every year, e-commerce businesses host a number of online New Year’s fairs with significant discounts.
3. Offering offerings to ancestors
On New Year’s Day, the Chinese make offerings to their ancestors to show respect and filial piety. Many people also visit ancestral graves before Tet. It is believed that the spirits of the ancestors will protect and bless their descendants.
4. Enjoy a family reunion dinner
Lunar New Year is a time for family reunion. For the Chinese, New Year’s Eve is the most important time of the year. Wherever they are, everyone looks forward to returning home to be with their family. The Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner is called “reunion dinner”.
Large, multi-generational families will sit around a round table, enjoying food and spending time together. Good luck dishes that must be included in the dinner include fish, dumplings, banh to (nian gao), spring rolls.
5. Eating Dumpling
Eating dumpling is an indispensablepart of Chinese New Year activities of festival. Dumplings are created with minced meat and vegetables and are wrapped in a spherical, elastic skin that resembles a Chinese silver ingot. Dumplings are symbolic of reunion, harmony, and fortune in Chinese culture. Almost every family member typically participates in the process of making dumplings while conversing with one another. The most common stuffing ingredients are minced pork, fish, chopped shrimp, tofu, and veggies.
6. Giving red envelopes
The Chinese usually store red envelopes in red envelopes (called hongbao) because the color red is said to symbolize good luck and happiness. People often give lucky money to children or seniors (retired) after a reunion meal, with the meaning of wishing the recipient a happy, prosperous and safe new year.
The Chinese prefer money that begins with an even number, such as 8 (pronounced akin to the word “wealthy”) and 6 (akin to the word “smooth”), except for the number 4 because it is closer to the word means “dead”.
7. Fireworks
From public fireworks displays in major cities to millions of fireworks displays in China’s countryside, firecrackers and fireworks are an indispensable festival activity. It’s a way to ward off evil spirits and welcome in the new year, as well as a way to add to the joyful atmosphere of the holiday.
In many rural areas, it is customary to set off firecrackers before every dinner from New Year’s Eve to the 3rd day of the New Year. It is believed that the louder the firecracker, the more favorable business and farming will be in the coming year.
8. Watch lion – monk – dragon dance
Lion – monk – dragon dance is an extremely popular activity in China and Chinatowns in many Western countries during the Lunar New Year, because these 3 animals symbolize prosperity, prosperity, happiness and lucky.
9. Sticking Spring Festival Couplets
In order to frighten away evil spirits, Spring Festival couplets are traditionally written on red paper with gold paint or ink. Chinese people decorate their gates with couplets for the Spring Festival to heighten the celebratory mood. Typically, individuals paste the upper scroll first, then the bottom scroll, and then the horizontal scroll. Additionally, Chinese people enjoy pasting the Chinese character Fu, which can be done either upright or upside down. In Chinese culture, Fu is upside down because it portends the arrival of good fortune.
10. Sending messages of blessing
Chinese people enjoy using Wechat to send blessing messages to their loved ones, friends, and coworkers during the festival. At 00:00, people begin to send good luck messages to share their hopes for the upcoming year. Additionally, Chinese people frequently use Wechat to send videos, emoji packages, and voice messages.
11. Visiting relative
People visit their friends and relative starting on the second day of the Chinese New Year to wish each other well. On the second day of the New Year, married couples are supposed to go see the wife’s parents. It’s customary to provide presents, like as wines and local goods when individuals visit family and friends. Additionally, young married couples and young children could get crimson envelopes from their elders.
12. Watching the New Year’s Gala on CCTV
Since 1983, watching CCTV’s New Year Gala has been a customary Chinese New Year activities practice. Crosstalk, comedy routines, and singing and dance performances are common. On CNY eve, the big party begins at 8 p.m until midnight. The song “Unforgettable Tonight” usually ends CCTV’s New Year Gala.
Conclusion
Chinese New Year is a time to welcome the new year with many auspicious things. The Chinese consider the traditional New Year’s Day to be the biggest holiday, so all Chinese New Year activities are very important. And Blogtuan.info let you know all Chinese New Year activities above. Hope you like this article.
Read more: https://blogtuan.info/2022/08/03/7-best-places-to-visit-in-qatar/
