🐲 Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is one of the main holidays in 🇨🇳 China and the countries of East Asia, the holiday of 🌸 Spring, and the beginning of a new 🌙 Lunar cycle. It is traditionally celebrated on the second 🌑 New moon after the winter solstice, 🎄 December 21, and lasts 15 days until the 🎐 Lantern festival.

Interesting Facts:

  • 🎏 Carp Streamer emoji is the symbol of 🧒 Children’s Day. Also, this flag represents the ancient legend of the carp, which on New Year’s Eve jumps on the gate to become a 🐉 Dragon. Therefore, the carps depicted on the flag also symbolize good luck, success, and good deeds.
  • 🎍 Pine decoration emoji in East Asian countries symbolizes the abode of the New Year deity. The decoration consists of 🎋 Bamboo, 🍃 Leaves, 🌱 Grass, 🌺 Flowers, fans, and 🎀 Ribbons. This emoji was approved by Unicode 6.0 in 2010 and included in 1.0 emoji version in 2015.
  • 🧧 Red Envelope emoji represents the traditional gift envelope for 💵 Money, which symbolizes good luck and wealth. These envelopes are gifted for Chinese New Year and other significant events.

1. 🐲 Chinese New Year celebration history

The holiday was born thanks to the old myth about Nian, a terrible horned 👹 Beast. The Chinese believed that it crawls out on the first day of the New Year and destroys everything in its path. According to legend, once an 👴 Old beggar came to the village and asked to spend the night with an 👵 Old woman, who was the only one who couldn’t escape to the mountains due to her age. The old man lit a 🔥 Fire in her 🏠 House, painted the front door red, put on a red robe, and when Nian nevertheless tried to enter the yard, he shot him with a bamboo 🎉 Firecracker. Then the beast got scared and ran away.

Since then, on Chinese New Year, it has been customary to decorate houses in red, let off 🎆 Firecrackers and light 🎇 Sparklers to scare off the beast.

Interesting fact: Thanks to the Gregorian 📅 Calendar, this holiday has been renamed Chun Jie, or Spring Festival, to distinguish it from the Western New Year. But in colloquial language, this name is also translated as “Nian”.

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2. Traditions and Symbols of 🐲 Chinese New Year celebration

Due to ancient myths, the main symbols of Chinese New Year are red paired inscriptions on the front doors, 🔥 Fire, as well as 🏮 Red lanterns, 🎆 Fireworks, and 🎉 Firecrackers.

Interesting facts:

  • The Chinese don’t go to bed and stay awake all the festive night on purpose, thus protecting the year from all misfortunes and evil 👻 Spirits.
  • Each Chinese New Year represents one of the 12 animals in the eastern horoscope and a specific color from Wuxing, or ‘Five Elements’ system.

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3. Traditional treats for 🐲 Chinese New Year

Traditional treats on the festive table are 🐖 Pork, 🦆 Duck, 🐔 Chicken, 🐟 Fish, and doufu. Besides, the north and south of China have their own traditional dishes. For example, in the north, it is customary to eat jiaozi or 🥟 Dumplings, and in the south, nian gao, which are slices of glutinous 🍙 Rice.

Chunjuan rolls, which consist of dough and filling made from meat or vegetables, are also very popular. On the New Year’s table, there is traditionally also glutinous rice cake, sweet 🍥 Rice balls, 🥡 Noodles, and fruits such as pomelo, 🍊 Tangerines, and oranges.

Interesting fact: Every treat on the New Year’s table in China has its own symbolism. For example, fish means prosperity and profit in New Year, while sweet rice balls mean family cohesion. Fruit, on the other hand, symbolizes prosperity, good fortune, and well-being.

Phrases

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