Lunar New Year's Day

Spring MeetingChinese New Year - Chun Jie, which means Spring Festival, is the most important holiday for the Chinese, it has been celebrated for more than two thousand years. It falls on the first new moon of the first month of the year, between January 12 and February 19. With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, this holiday became known as the "Feast of Spring" to separate it from the New Year according to the Western style. In everyday life, Chun Jie is called “Nian” (nanny means “year”).

According to legend, the Nian is a terrible fierce monster with horns on his head, who lived in ancient China. All year round he was in the depths of the sea and only on the eve of the new year climbed out of the water, broke into the villages, devoured cattle there and killed people. Therefore, the local peasants were very afraid of him and every year before the New Year, whole families left the villages and fled to the depths of the mountains to hide from the predatory beast Nanny.

One day, on New Year’s Eve, when the villagers of Tao Hua (“Peach Flowers”), supporting the old, with babies in their arms, left the village in horror, a poor old man with a silver mustache came there. He held a cane in one hand and a bag in the other.

At this time, some closed the windows or locked the house, others packed things for the road, and others led bulls or sheep, in short, at this time in the village everyone was busy and everyone was in panic, so no one paid much attention to this poor old man. Only one old woman, who lived in the eastern part of the village, gave him some food and began to persuade him to leave as soon as possible to avoid meeting the beast Nian. However, the old man, stroking his mustache, grinned: "If you let me stay in your house for one night, I will drive the Nanny out of the village."

The old woman looked at the old man with surprise and noticed that this gray-haired old man with a youthful face looked strong and cheerful, but she still began to persuade him to climb the mountain to hide from the predatory Nanny. However, the poor old man insisted on his own, and the old woman had to leave alone.

The fierce beast Nian

By midnight, the Nian had broken into the village. This time, he discovered that there was something wrong with the village as it had been for years. Nian saw with horror that a fire was burning in the old woman’s house, and the doors were painted red. And when he got to the entrance to the house, there was a crackling of bamboo pops in the yard. He didn't dare enter the yard.

It turns out that the Nanny is afraid of red color, bright flames and loud noise. At this time the gates opened, the poor old man, dressed in a red robe, came out of them and laughed loudly. Seeing this picture, Nian was very scared and fled in panic.

On the second day, the first day of the New Year, the villagers returned to the village. When they saw everything in their homes, they were surprised. At this time, the old woman understood what was going on and told the villagers about the promise of the poor old man. Hearing the story of the old woman, all the villagers rejoiced, dressed in new clothes, congratulating each other on the onset of calm, happiness and prosperity. This story quickly spread to neighboring villages, and everyone soon learned how to banish the Beast Nanny.

Since then, every year on New Year’s Eve, people put red paired inscriptions on the doors, launch flaps, lights burn in houses, people do not go to bed and stay awake all night, which in Chinese is called “shou sui” – “to protect the year”.

The Chinese call New Year’s Eve the “Night of Meeting After Separation.” This is the most important moment of the year for them. The whole family gathers at the festive table for the New Year’s dinner, which is characterized by an abundance and variety of dishes. For example, a New Year’s dinner is not complete without dishes of chicken meat, fish and “doufu” – soy cottage cheese, which we call “tofu”, because in Chinese the names of these products are consonant with words that mean “happiness” and “prosperity”.

In the north of China, it is customary to eat dumplings (jiaozi) on the new year, and in the south - "nyangao" (slices made of glutinous rice). Northerners prefer dumplings, because in Chinese the word “jiaozi” is consonant with the words “conducting the old and meeting the new”. In addition, dumplings resemble in their shape traditional ingots of gold and silver and symbolize the desire for wealth. For the same reason, southerners eat “nyangao”, symbolizing the improvement of life every year.