Celebration

The first day of the Lunar calendar is the Chinese Lunar New Year. It is also called the Spring Festival. It differs every year (between January 21 to February 21 of the Gregorian calendar). It means spring is back, everything is renewed.

There are a lot of traditional festival ceremonies.

1. We buy New Year's goods before New Year, such as food, clothing, accessories, things to use, things to post (New Year gifts), and gifts to send (New Year greetings).

2. Every household needs to clean the environment and wash various utensils, bedding and curtains. It means to let all bad luck and misfortune be swept away from us.

3. Stick Spring Festival red couplets, door gods, New Year pictures, blessing characters, window decorations, etc. They are always red festive elements.

4. New Year's Eve Dinner. It is a family reunion dinner. It is the most sumptuous and important dinner at the end of the year. The traditional food is dumplings. We like to cook chicken (meaning good luck), fish (meaning abundance every year), dried oysters (meaning good business), bean curd (meaning abundance), lotus root (meaning intelligence), lettuce (meaning making money), and Chinese sausage (meaning longevity).

5. Stay up all night. All houses light up the New Year's Eve, and families gather together. The lights stay on all night on New Year's Eve. It means being rich in the coming year.

6. Lucky Money. After dinner, the elderly will give New Year's money which is put into a red bag and given to the younger generations. In folk culture, lucky money is used to ward off evil spirits and bring peace.

7. Setting off firecrackers. When the New Year comes, the first thing every household does when they open the door is to burn firecrackers, using the sound of firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new.

People are always happy because it is one of the few times of the year when the whole family can get together. In my family, we can do some traditional activities for my sons even though we live in Canada. I want them to know that the Chinese Lunar Year is a very important festival for the Chinese.