For today’s journal assignment I had students write about this topic: “During Spring Festival (the 15-day celebration of the Chinese New Year) there are a lot of traditions that talk of good luck, fortune, and happiness. Why are these things so important to the Chinese people?” I got a whole range of answers, and while most didn’t answer the actual question I was pleased to see how they took it to explain some of their traditions. For example, if someone dies, not only does it bring bad luck for the year, but there is a three-year mourning period in which the three Spring Festivals following you are not supposed to put the red banners on the door as is the custom (if you do put up banners, they will be white, to show everyone that they are still in the mourning period). Most of them referred to the way firecrackers were set off in the old days to drive away the evil spirits (they kept saying "the old days," but how much is this still a belief in modern China, I wonder?). There was one particular evil monster they were told about as children, named Nian, and the firecrackers were meant to scare him away. Not only is red the color of happiness, it also helps scare evil spirits away as they are afraid of the color. Evil spirits apparently are also afraid of lights, which is why on New Years Eve the family turns on all the lights in the house. They also take time to clean the whole house on the eve of the New Year, as this wipes out the bad luck from the previous year. They place coins in dumplings and whoever gets the dumpling with the coin gets good luck for the year, as do they if you eat a chicken foot. The word for "fish" and "surplus" have the same pronunciation, so they place two fish in the middle of the table and have the saying that “every year we have fish (surplus)” to mean that every year they are prosperous and have good luck When asked WHY they do these things, the students simply said that it’s what the generation before did. One girl talked about how it is what the ancestors passed on, and being that ancestors are so important in Chinese culture this does make sense.
I'll let them explain it to you:
“Our country has a long history, about 5000 years. So, we have lots of valuable customs. We treasure our customs because our ancestor have passed them from one generation to another. We must keep it as the most important thing and give it to our posterity. In fact, our traditions have great happiness. A group of people sits around the table and talk about our family from long ago. We consider our tradition as our habit. Every year we hold the same festival until now, maybe for thousands of years. Our ancestors had generated it to us. We should treasure it.” (Amy)
“Spring Festival is the most important festival to the Chinese. It is not a tradition just because it was Chinese life. In the old times, China had very many people, you know. We didn't have as much ability as modern people. So, every day was very hard. Because there were so many people we did not have enough clothes, food, and so on. People had to save a lot of food or other good things for the winter. In the winter, many people will die. Old people didn’t know why, so, they think there was a monster called “Nian”. In order to dodge the monster we should put red banners on our doors, and in order to scare it we should light the fireworks. For next year we will eat dumplings- they look very much like money. So, we have these kinds of traditions. In order to live.” (Martin)
"During the Spring Festival, most people would wear their new and beautiful clothes- it symbolizes a new beginning in the new year, leaving the old and unhappy thing behind. In ancient times there is a ghost called “Sui” He always affected people’s lives and did harm against people. Then the manager who charges the sky (?) gives money to the people in order to get rid of the ghost. Then that traditional custom passed down called “Ya sui qian” by descendants. It means "pass the ghost". So, many people woud give and receive money during the Spring Festival. "(Sonya)
So much talk of red banners on the doorpost and the passing of the ghost reminds me a lot of Moses' charge to the ancient Israelis on the eve of the last plague, and the forecast of the future lamb that would bring a real New Beginning.
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