Legends from the Chinese New Year
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Though most Westerners may have missed it, Jan. 22 was a special day for others. Something akin to Christmas for at least 25 percent of the world’s population, Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is a holiday steeped in tradition and history.
Ancient legend tells of a time when the people of China were tormented by a ferocious beast called “Nian” (which is the Chinese word for “year”). This monster had an extremely large mouth that was capable of devouring many people in a single bite. Every year on the night before the lunar New Year began, he would come down from the mountains and prey upon the people.
Years passed in fear of this great beast, until one day an old man came to the rescue of the people. He was a fearless man and talked with the beast. He said, “I hear that you are a very capable beast, but do you think that you could swallow the other beasts of prey instead of people? They are not worthy opponents.”
As it turns out, this old man was actually an immortal god who warned the people to put red decorations on their windows and doors to keep Nian from ever coming back.
Today, the Chinese still celebrate New Year by putting up red paper and lighting firecrackers on New Year’s eve to scare away this beast.
Other traditions, such as the belief that wearing bright costumes will attract the God of the universe to come and bless the people, help to explain many of the occurrences of the Spring Festival.
Chinese New Year is the beginning of the lunar calendar, which is the longest chronological record in history.
Dating from 2600 B.C., when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the zodiac, this calendar is yearly and is based on the cycles of the moon. A complete cycle takes 60 years and is made up of five different cycles of 12 years each.
Each year in the 12-year cycle is said to be led, or protected, by an animal. Legend has it that just before Buddha was to die, he called for all the animals of the earth to come send him off. Only 12 came. As a reward for their fidelity, he named them each a year, in the order they arrived.
The Chinese people also believe that the ruling animal in the year a person is born has a great deal to do with their personality, believing that it is “the animal that hides in your heart.”
This year is the year of the monkey. Other years include 1968, 1980 and 1992.
Hai Ning Du, president of the Chinese Student Association at Utah State University, emphasized that Chinese New Year is all about families.
“Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year, is the most important holiday in China,” he said. “On this day, families gather and joyous faces are all around.”
Du said many of the preparations begin up to a month in advance of the holiday when people buy presents, decoration materials, food, and new clothes. In order to help sweep away the bad luck, a huge clean-up also begins several days before the celebration begins.
Lasting 15 days, the celebration ends with the Festival of Lanterns, which is a time for singing, dancing and brilliant lantern shows.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu
Information was compiled from
* www.about.com
* www.teacherlink.ed.usu.edu
* www.newyear.co.uk/chinese/history.htm