Chinese fresh Year of Water Rabbit

chiny24.com 2 years ago

Chinese fresh Year

We call it Chinese, although it is celebrated as a state vacation not only in China (then and in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), but besides in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, North/South Korea, that is, almost all of Southeast Asia. Almost all, due to the fact that in Japan this vacation is not celebrated. The Chinese fresh Year is celebrated everywhere where Chinese, Vietnamese diaspora, etc., are found. Due to the number of diaspora, any states have introduced this vacation to their own calendars of state holidays – this happened, for example, in Panama.

The Chinese fresh Year is now celebrated by a 4th of the inhabitants of the earth.

It is simply a mobile holiday. This year begins on 22 January and if you consider tradition, celebrate the wine to be celebrated for 16 days. As in the case of Polish Christmas, the most crucial day is the Christmas Eve of the Chinese fresh Year. This year the celebration of the Chinese fresh Year will end on 5 February, the conventional Holy Lantern (chin. 元宵节).

History

The beginnings of the celebration of the Chinese fresh Year date back to the reign of Emperor Han DeWu (chin. 汉的吴) from the Shang dynasty (1600 - 1046 BC), which in the 14th century BCE was to initiate this tradition thanking heaven for the harvest and asking for fresh ones in the coming spring. Chinese fresh Year's Day sets the lunar calendar, so far utilized in Chinese countryside. According to this calendar, for centuries, China has decided on successive sowings, as well as many activities that were related to the work on the farm. The Chinese village has lived and celebrated according to the rhythm of the lunar calendar for at least 3600 years.

During the period of the Republic of China, Sun Yat Sen (chin. 孙中山), its first president (1911-1912), and the leader KuoMinTangu (chin. 国民党), set a fresh date in 1912 for the Chinese fresh Year, according to the Gregorian calendar. It was January 1st. The Gregorian calendar has been widely utilized in China since 1929. Following the triumph of the Communists with Mao ZeDongeim (chin. 毛泽东) at the head and proclamation of the People's Republic of China (chin. 中华人民共和国), further changes were made. Both holidays have begun, the day of the “new year” is inactive being celebrated twice: on 1 January the “New Year” is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, and on moving dates (depending on the full moon) the “Chinese fresh Year” is celebrated.

And while the fresh year is being celebrated twice, the second vacation is more crucial for the Chinese. This is the most crucial vacation in the calendars of all Chinese, with the top importance both in the cultural dimension but above all in the individual dimension. It is the most household of Chinese holidays.

Traditions, customs

As was the case with specified a advanced Christmas rank and respective 1000 years of history, there are many customs and superstitions that vary from region to region of China. There are customs common to the full country:

On the eighth day of the twelfth period of the lunar calendar (last day was 30.12.) you should conduct general cleaning, thorough cleaning of the flat (from window, door, bathroom scrubbing). The home must shine clean. In this way, evil spirits are cast out, free of all that is unnecessary to make area for good, happiness that is thus invited under its roof. fresh Year's doesn't come in with old dirt, with disorder.

It is absolutely prohibited to clean and clean during the fresh Year's Chinese holiday. specified actions at that time are a warrant of misfortune and failure in the close future.

All work in preparation for the Chinese fresh Year serves to get free of Nian (chin. 年). Now the word means “year”, but in the old tradition it was besides understood as “bad spirit”. We get free of Nian, we remove from our environment and our lives everything that Nian symbolizes to guarantee our prosperity and happiness in the fresh Year.

There are many stories in common with the evil spirit of Nian. 1 of the most popular is that in very distant times Nian utilized to eat people, hunt them, feed them. And there was no rescue from Nian.

But there was an old sage who decided to aid people. He offered to the evil spirit to change his diet, to start eating another spirits alternatively of people. Nian agreed to this offer. The old man, on the another hand, commanded people to put red paper strips in windows and doors, on which they should compose out the wishes of prosperity and the "good words" which would deter Nian and let him know that he was not allowed to persecute people who adorned their premises in specified a way. The red paper ribbons with subtitles are intended to deter all kinds of adverse events in the coming year. Today, you will not find a Chinese flat that does not have red paper sash and ribbons on the door with usual wishes and signs that scare evil and misery.

An component of appropriate preparation for the celebration of the Chinese fresh Year is simply a visit to the hairdresser and cutting of the hair. Cut hair stays in the old year. On fresh Year's Day, washing of head and hair is prohibited.

New Year's is simply a time of household meetings, for which during the old year there was no time that made work difficult, surviving in distant regions of the country. Therefore, the most crucial minute for families is Christmas Eve of the Chinese fresh Year and Christmas dinner, now increasingly held in a rented restaurant. This dinner is attended by all household members, all generations. Christmas dinner is simply a large deal of food. The more on the table, the better.

Mandatory fresh Year dishes, especially in the northern part of the country, are jiaozi dumplings (chin. 饺子).

In the south of China, it is in turn a ‘baton’ of sticky rice called NianGao (chin. 年糕).

Pierożki – like everything on the fresh Year's tables – are a symbol of happiness and wealth, due to the fact that they are suited to the form of a crescent resembling conventional Chinese gold bars, cast in the form of boats. specified bars of various sizes and weights were for centuries a means of payment in China.

NianGao cookies, whose name is in Chinese as ‘higher year’ or ‘year above’, are a symbol of development, progress, exceeding their own limitations and climbing beyond what has been achieved so far.

In China, large importance is attached to the wording of words, to the ambiguity of words by their akin sound. This knowing of words is based on many beliefs, myths, and superstitions. Therefore, for example, the word “Nian” can mean both “bad spirit” or “wild beast” and “year” or “something sticky”. In turn, the word ‘Gao’ means both ‘cake’ and ‘over’. It all depends on the correct expression of words, the meaning of which is given even by another accents (tons) which in Chinese are at least 4 and sometimes 9...

Mandatory and symbolic fresh Year's dishes include:

fish (embroidered, but prepared and served all with head and tail) – it is wealth, abundance, abundance. Eating fish must not be ‘turned’ to the another side so that the luck does not turn distant from the participants of the meal;
chicken (also prepared and fed with head and feet, not cut) – this is simply a household in the set;
pasta It's a long life. It must not be cut during administration and food to avoid shortening your life. Eating is so permitted, regardless of its length, at the fresh Year's table;
cabbage – again, the word game is important. Cabbage in Chinese sounds akin to ‘a increasing fortune’ and cabbage itself means continuous growth and vitality;
pineapple – popular in the very south of the country and associated with the word "plough".

It would inactive be possible to exchange it for a long time. He ate the fresh Year's, all 16 days of Christmas You will find HERE.

What is done in addition to food and family-social meetings during Chinese fresh Year?

After Christmas dinner there is time for games (cards, or MaJiaong (chin. 麻将)) and besides for giving gifts to children, learning young people and seniors. All these household members receive conventional red envelopes (chin. 红宝), including various amounts of money, mandatory in fresh unused banknotes.

Children on that day can go to sleep later, no 1 disciplines them, they are allowed almost anything. erstwhile we visit relatives and friends, we give them a fruit basket (including mandarins, oranges, apples, bananas, etc.) and sometimes besides flowers, preferably red. The branches with peach flowers are popular, symbolizing the attractiveness and long life. There's besides a base. Painted... red.

A fresh secular tradition is the common, household viewing of the fresh Year's Gala, presented by the central CCTV tv (chin. 春节联欢晚会), lasting over 4 hours. The gala always starts at 8:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve of the Chinese fresh Year and is repeated later, “round and round” throughout the week of authoritative holidays. On all possible tv channels.

And there are provincial galas. It was initiated in 1986. Today, it is simply a tv amusement program with the world's top audience, for which the latest achievements of technology are used, in which the biggest stars of the Chinese phase participate, those close to seniors, those close to much younger ones. The performance during the gala is simply a confirmation of their values, a kind of nobility, for the artists participating in the gala. For television, it is the most crucial production of the year. And the time of the ad harvest.

Of course, there are fresh Year's ornaments everywhere, scrolls or strips of red paper, all with good wishes on them, suspended on the entrance door. They must be suspended in pairs.

It is besides visible on the door and windows inverted sign Fu (chin. 富) symbolizing coming to a given place of happiness, wealth, good luck. These red decorations are usually left for the full year and are exchanged for fresh ones only with the coming of the next year (the eighth day...).

Christmas clothes are a very crucial part of the celebration of this period. Must be new. Black and white are prohibited. The most appropriate colour of the festive clothing is red in all its shades. Without red in China, there's no specified thing as happiness. And this isn't about any connection to KPCh symbolism. Red is the most popular colour in China for centuries. It symbolizes happiness, beauty, vitality, success and success. It has – according to Chinese tradition – the most affirmative energy, of all colours. It is so visible on all peculiar occasion, celebration or wedding.

Fireworks and firecrackers, so associated with the large celebrations of Chinese holidays, especially the Chinese fresh Year, are already in large Chinese cities in the east. This is the effect of the ban on their usage in urban areas, which has been systematically introduced for more than 10 years by central and local authorities. Unfortunately...

The authoritative reason is concern for the safety and wellness of citizens, due to the fact that race is simply a origin of terrible noise, they origin pollution, they are besides a origin of many accidents. Only somewhere else in the countryside can we meet this old tradition. By the way, how easy this centuries-old customized was to celebrate a fresh year and not only erase from the local landscape/life. Sad.

Each of the 16 days of fresh Year's holidays has its pronunciation, symbolism, meaning, is simply a way to guarantee success in the beginning cycle of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The second day of Christmas is due to pay tribute to the ancestors. On the 3rd day, we must avoid any visitation, peace and quiet, as in the 5th day, erstwhile the time for worshiping the spirit of riches comes. Between the sixth and thirteenth days of the fresh Year are traditionally held meetings with friends and acquaintances, the fifteenth day is the Festival of Lampions (Latarni) – a festival of love and hope, and at the same time the grand finale of the full fresh Year's period.

Remember to close the cases before fresh Year’s, settle the bills and pay the debts. However, over 2 weeks of celebration of the fresh Year’s coming must be filled with joy and optimism. This is due to the fact that what temper is going to be during this period, what it is and how it is done and said, will affect the author of words and deeds throughout the year. Peace, the weather of the spirit, saying good things and kind things, not a small complaining, criticizing, lamenting, it's an iron canon of that time. Infringement threatens to prolong unpleasantness for months to come.

What year will it be for Rabbit?

The Chinese horoscope is 12 symbolic signs, it's an yearly period symbolized by 12 animals. The mythical beginning of the horoscope was taken from the legend of the race which was arranged by the Jade Emperor YuHuang (chin. 玉皇). The Emperor is the top deity of Taoism and the ruler of the universe, inhabited by Taoistic Heaven. YuHuang does not honor with his presence of the earth, he does not appear here, but all year he receives reports from his subordinate deities about how people have behaved for the past 12 months.

Emperor YuHuang erstwhile wanted to know more about animals on Earth. He gave orders to organize the race of the most interesting of them. The race winner was to sit alongside the Emperor, and the following years were to be named from animals participating in the race. In the order in which they complete the run.

The first at the finish was to scope the buffalo, but just before the line the mouse jumped on its ridge and so overtaken it, the first appearing in front of the Emperor's throne. Then the race finished and another animals, which gave emergence to 12-year cycles according to the set in the race yearly order. The animals came before Emperor YuHuang in the following order:

- Mouse (chin. 鼠年),
- buffalo (chin. 牛年),
- Tiger (chin. 虎年),
- Rabbit (chin. 兔年),
- Dragon (chin. 龙年),
- Snake (chin. 蛇年),
- Horse (chin. 马年),
- Goat (chin. 羊年),
- Monkey (chin. 猴年),
- Rooster (chin. 鸡年),
- Dog (chin. 狗年) and
- Pig (chin. 猪年).

On January 22, 2023 we enter the year from the sign of Rabbit (chin. 兔年), 5th in the cycle. The Chinese horoscope is not only 12 symbols, but besides 5 elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth). all 12 years the dominant component changes. The full horoscope cycle in the Chinese calendar lasts 60 lunar years.

We are at the time of the dominance of the component of water, which is why we enter the year of the Water Rabbit.

Rabbit is simply a symbol of longevity, peace, delicacy, patience. Persons born in the Year of Rabbit (1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023) do not like fresh challenges. Rabbit loves routine. The beginning of the year is simply a time for him to make himself, build self-discipline, enjoy tiny things, and strengthen human bonds. The combination of Rabbit's mark and the component of water (it happens erstwhile all 60 years) means cutting off from the past and focusing on what the future holds. The Water Rabbit is protected from misery throughout life. She's a creative person. He comes out of all oppression, no substance how bad things happen to him...

May we prosper this year, like Water Bunny, so that in wellness and prosperity we can make it through February 10, 2024, the beginning of Dragon's year.

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