On the 5th of February the Chinese people will start to celebrate their New Year, and this celebration would last for 15 days. This would be the year of a Pic, and it is one of the 12 zodiac animas that there are in China. Some people call this Spring festival. Here are some interesting facts about Chinese New Year.
source:chinesenewyear.net
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1. Scaring off a monster
According to the legend, all the traditions and customs related to the Chinese New year are connected with the fear of the people form Nian, which is an ancient monster that used to make terror over people on the first day in the New Year. In order to make this stop, the people asked a sage for an advice and he told them that only loud noises can prevent Nian from making terror. The noises should be made from fireworks and drums, and the red color should be also used. This is all present even today during celebrations of the New Year.
source:chinesenewyear.net
2. Clean the house
The traditions and customs of celebrating New Year have been modified throughout the history, but one has still remained. Namely, people use this opportunity to clean their houses so that “huiqi”, breaths of the lingering ones, are cleared. The cleaning was also in honor of some godly-like creatures that the people believed come to visit their households.
source:mentalfloss.com
3. Traveling
The most important thing about celebrating Chinese New Year is putting family at the first place, and we know that China is the most populated country in the world. So, there would be a lot of travelling during these period since people go to spend this holiday with their families. It is predicted that there are about 3 billion travels during this period.
source:mentalfloss.com
4. Superstitions
In the modern era, a lot of people have cast out the superstition beliefs related to this holiday. On the other hand a lot of people still avoid doing things that they think will bring them bad luck. Since ill health is summoned by going to the doctor or by taking medicines, many people avoid these during the holiday. Furthermore, any money related transactions – borrowing or lending, are also avoided. Some people do not even carry their own children.
source:mentalfloss.com
5. Renting a partner
In Chinese culture, it is very bad to be singe at around 30s, but many people are still single at that age. So, what happens? A lot of people simply rent a boyfriend or a girlfriend in order to please their parents. This is an expensive thing, and cost about $145 daily.
source:mentalfloss.com
6. Red envelopes
We have already said that red color is dominant during the festival. One of the main gifts given during this holiday are red envelopes. Of course, they are not empty, they have money in them. It needs to be pointed out that you should not use old but new bills. It is not rare to see people walking around with dozens of envelopes. They do this so that they would have an envelope if they bump into someone. This gift should not be refused, and should be accepted as all gifts in China – both hand that are open.
source:mentalfloss.com
7. Smog
Since the celebration revolves around fireworks as well, there is a lot of smog created from them. It is estimated the air pollution increases 15 times during this period due to fireworks. This is the reason why Shanghai prohibited the usage of fireworks in the urban area in 2016.
source:chinesenewyear.net
8. Do not wear black
It is considered that black clothes bring bad luck, the situation is the same with white clothes as well since they are both connected to death and are used for mourning. Instead of these, use red and some more colorful ones.
source:chinesenewyear.net
9. Cherries
The most popular fruit during the celebration of the entire festival are cherries. The demand for them is enormous so that even charter jets were used to transport the needed amount of cherries. It is estimated that about 300t of cherries are supplied to the Chinese market for the purposes of festival.
source:chinesenewyear.net
10. Panda express
Panda Express is a food franchise that hopes to get involved the USA more in the celebration of the entire festival. This is done in all their restaurants by giving red envelopes and promoting the holiday. The hope is to popularize the celebration of Chinese New Year in North America.
source:chinesenewyear.net
