Celebrating in February
The new year begins on Feb. 12 this year – the Chinese New Year that is.
According to www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty.mroth/438/
CHINA/chinese_new_year.html, the new year celebration is a 15-day festival that begins with the first new moon and runs until the full moon.
The Chinese New Year is based on the lunar and solar calendar. According to the Web page, the lunar cycle is 29.5 days, and in order to keep the calendar correct, the Chinese must add an extra month every few years much like the United States has leap year. Because of this practice, the actual celebration falls on different days each year.
Tiffany Leo, a junior in environmental engineering, grew up in Utah, but her mother is from Hong Kong and her father’s parents were from China. She said growing up in the United States has changed her perception of the New Year celebration, but her family still practices many Chinese traditions.
For the Chinese, the New Year’s celebration is the biggest holiday, much like Christmas is in Western society she said.
“I feel fortunate to celebrate Christmas and then have Chinese New Year,” Leo said.
Having grown up here, she has not really noticed the differences because her family has always took part in both holidays. She said she is able to share the diverse culture of her family with those around her.
“It makes me appreciate it [Chinese New Year] more and I’m glad I have it,” she said.
Leo said many of the traditional activities for the New Year include the dragon dance, firecrakers and the giving of red envelopes (which have money in them.)
“You eat really good food,” she said. “It’s the time when money doesn’t matter. You go out and spend it on food so your family has good food.”
The New Year is more of a celebration of the past year and looking forward to the new year, she said.
“You say good-bye to the old year and forget about the bad things and remember the good things,” Leo said.
Part of the traditional New Year’s celebration is the dragon dance.
“The dragon is a very symbolic character in Chinese culture,” she said. “It is to scare away some of the evil spirits.”
The dragon is decribed as heroic and prestigious. Leo said there are drummers who play while people dressed in masks escort the dragon around the streets. The dragon costume is large and brightly colored, often with sequins.
“Being here [in Utah] we don’t do the dragon dance. The costumes are so large and so elaborate,” she said. “They sometimes do it in Salt Lake, but I don’t know how often.
Leo said some of the other things her family does to celebrate may be more family based traditions.
“We leave our lights on New Year’s Eve. We leave a lamp on in each room and leave out oranges and tangerines to keep the bad spirits away,” she said.
Like many of the traditional practices, she said her family abstains from eating meat on the first day of the New Year.
“My family doesn’t always know why we do certain things,” Leo said. “They have lived here for so long, they just don’t know.”
According to www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty.mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_
new_year.html, the practice of not eating meat is to ensure a long and healthy life.
Other traditions include a day of prayer to their ancestors and other gods, many days for friends and relatives to come together for meals and ends with the lantern festival which includes a parade with traditional lanterns.
Also at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, individuals should leave their doors and windows open to allow the old year to go out of the house, she said.