Chinese communities
across the world celebrate the Chinese New Year in magnificent and colourful
ways. The Chinese New Year is also often celebrated in schools and classrooms,
so knowing a few details about it is useful for every teacher.
What is Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year is the biggest Chinese holiday.
Traditionally, it used to be celebrated for a whole month, but in the modern
day, the duration of the celebration is often only 3-5 days.
Many rituals and routines are the part of the Chinese New
Year celebrations, such as red-coloured decorations, ritual cleaning of homes
before the New Year eve, and gift giving, feasts and family reunions, and street
parades on the night of the New Year and in the subsequent few days of
celebration.
What is the connection to the Chinese Zodiac?
The Chinese new year celebrations are arranged in cycles counting 12
years, each represented by an animal of the Chinese Zodiac. The belief is that
the person born in a particular year will have the attributes of an animal to
which the year is dedicated. That especially goes for the character. The
Chinese Zodiac analyzes and psychological features of people based on the year
they were born in great depth.
Why is Chinese New Year celebrated at a different date each year?
The Chinese New Year occurs on a different date every year
because the ancient Chinese followed a lunar calendar. When looking at a lunar
calendar, the new year begins on the first night of the new moon after the Sun
enters the constellation of Aquarius.
Origins of the Chinese New Year
The Chinese New Year is such an ancient holiday that no one
is really sure how it came to be. Still, many legends about its origins exist
and have survived to this date.
One of those legends is the one about a creature called Nian
- a name which means "year" in Chinese. Nian appeared one night
before the New Year and started to prey on villagers of the surrounding
villages. An old man decided to put a stop to this. He went to the beast and
told him that he should not feed on people, but on other beasts which commonly
frightened the villagers. Nian listened to him and chased all of these beasts
back to the forests. The villagers were grateful to the old man, and to their
surprise, he came back riding on Nian's back - it turned out he was a god.
Before leaving the area, he advised the villagers to put up the red decorations
on their windows and doors, and to use the gunpowder, all to scare away the
beasts that used to frighten them. And people took his advice, at the same time
scaring the beasts and celebrating the salvation that the deity brought to
them.
Exploring this, and many other legends concerning the
Chinese New Year is a great way to educate your students about the particular
holiday, as well as about Chinese traditional beliefs and culture. The Chinese
New Year has a great potential for classroom programmes, crafts, and
celebrations, so bringing a bit of the Chinese New Year luck into your class is
sure to be rewarding.
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