History of Chinese New Year

In China, the Chinese New Year 农历 (NongliXinnian) is the main celebration and the best
opportunity to meet with families. The traditional Chinese New Year festival, also known as the
Spring Festival 节 (Chunjie), which has a history of more than 4000 years.

Chinese New Year 2021, the year of the Metal Buffalo, will begin on Friday, February 12, 2021
and will end on Monday, January 31, 2022.

The evolution of the Chinese New Year: from the Neolithic to the third millennium
To understand the origins of Chinese New Year, and why it differs from ours, it is essential to
become familiar with the Chinese calendar itself. The Chinese calendar is a calendar that is
referred to as the "solar luni". This means that the months are lunar months: in other words, it is
the new moon (the lunar phase during which the Moon, during its revolution, lies between the
Earth and the Sun) that marks the first day of each month, and the full moon that defines the
fifteenth day of the month. Months are added to the final calculation for solar and lunar calendar
to coincide.

The discovery of the cycle of years

Long before the alternation of months according to the Earth's satellite, it seems that those who
inhabited China during the so-called Neolithic period (a period of prehistory often involving
agriculture, livestock and sedentary living) had already noticed the follow-up of the four seasons
and their regular return. It is according to their observations that the primitive notion of the year,
or "nian", was born.

Historians, however, believe the emergence of the word in a later period. Each Chinese dynasty
sees a specific term imposed to describe the cycle that is so familiar to us today: it is called the
"zai" in the 22nd century BC, the "sui" under the Xia or the "if" under the Shang. It was only
when the Western Zhou dynasty came to power (in the 11th century BC) that the term "nian"
would have become the case to describe this recurring cycle.
The birth of the first Chinese calendar
It was a little later, during the Han Dynasty, which ruled China from 206 BC to 220 AD, that a
calendar worthy of the name was born, based on the movements and alterations of the Moon and
the Sun, but also on the length of the shadows, on the duration of day and night and on changes
in agriculture. From that founding moment, the lunar calendar would be passed on century after
century and the Chinese New Year would become a traditional holiday celebrated among all the
ruling families of the country.

The brilliant path of this lunar calendar would encounter serious clutter in 1912, the date marking
the fall of the imperial regime and the birth of the Republic of China. It officially adopted the
Gregorian calendar from its inception. But the habits of the people persist; as for the north of the
country, it is occupied by the Lords of War, who exercise control over part of the territory.

Consequences: the lunar calendar made resistance and it was not until 1929, one year after the
victory of the Kuomintang (the most powerful political party in the country) over the Lords of
war, that the Gregorian calendar was applied throughout the territory. As for the official time, we
prefer that of the first ports open to the West than that of Beijing.

Despite adapting to the Western model, China and its inhabitants remain extremely attached to
their calendar, using it as a link between them and their traditions, especially that of their New
Year.

Brief Story of the history if the Chinese New Year

In many countries, public holidays take place on the darkest, coldest days of winter. In Asia, live
all kinds of people who celebrate all kinds of holidays. Each group has its traditions and stories
but there is a party that everyone celebrates and it is the Lunar New Year that we call the
Chinese New Year. This festival always falls between mid-January and mid-February. Each
resident place blood-red papers around his front door. On these are written a beautiful writing
heaps of good wishes for the New Year. In addition, at dawn, the inhabitants detonate
firecrackers. This story is one of the stories that explains why people do these things.
Long ago, when powerful dragons lived on land and in the seas, no one in Taiwan celebrated the
Lunar New Year. Even in a certain village, this day was the worst day of the year because a local
had killed a sea dragon. Everyone knows that this is a terribly unfortunate thing to do because the
ghost of the dragon came back to haunt the village every year at the dawn of the New Year.

When he appeared, he would shake his horrible head and shout, "I'm hungry. Give me a first-
born son to eat! »
- "No! No! We're not going to do that!" the weeping villagers replied. We will not give you
children to eat!"
- "Then I'll kill you all!" And the dragon ghost blowing his stinking, hot breath towards the
village. Smoke was billowing everywhere and villages were starting to cough. Some even lost
consciousness. The wisest of the village realizing that the dragon ghost could easily make them
all die, reluctantly decided to give a newborn child in order to save the rest of the village. He
hoped that with this offering, the ghost of the dragon would never return again. But year after
year, the dragon ghost came back and year after year, a family had to sacrifice its first-born son
to satisfy the animal's voracity.

One year, it was the turn of the young Widow Teng to sacrifice her only child, a beautiful boy
who was about to be five years old.

As tradition dictated, four days before the Lunar New Year, the Taoist priest left the temple and
went through the village to the house of the unfortunate who had to sacrifice her first child. As
he walked towards the creek, where the house of widow Teng was located, all the villagers were
hesitantly asking, "Where is he going this year?"
"At the Teng Widow's House," says one woman
"Oh not at home. It's his only child!" cried another.

The neighbours of the Teng Widow had gathered all around the house. They expected to hear
cries of pain as she heard the terrible news. But nothing. No sound came from his little house.
When the priest left, they rushed to see what was going on. They found her sitting in her kitchen.

- "Didn't the priest tell you the news?"

" Yes, he told me, " replied the widow calmly.
- "But why don't you cry?"
" Because I have no time to cry" said the Widow Teng. "I'm thinking of a way to roll the dragon
ghost. He will not have my son."

For three days and three nights, she surveyed the ground trying to scaffold a plan. Occasionally,
she would pause and look at her son, who was dowing in the yard. She also prayed at the altar
of her ancestors and to all the gods whose names she knew. When her son fell asleep, she would
sit next to him and gently stroke his face, which looked so much like his father's. She even went
to consult the fortune teller, the priests and everyone in the village. But no one knew what to do.
The situation seemed hopeless.

Tired of waiting so long, of walking so much, of praying so much, she fell asleep exhausted on
the ground in front of the altar of the family's ancestors. Her grandson who had seen her thought
that he should not wake her up because she was perhaps dreaming and he did not want to cut
her dream...

Well, he took it because his mother was actually dreaming. Because she had not slept for three
days, a mass of dreams came to her in a disjointed order. She saw dragons and ghosts, fear and
fear, innocent children and pain, blood and great noises and then joy all swirling in her head.
A few hours before dawn, she awoke and gently shook her still painful head from having
dreamed so much. And then the miracle happened. The disjointed images came together and she
knew what to do.

The dragons of his dream were afraid of two things: fear of the sight of blood and fear of violent
noises. When someone is afraid, they usually run away. My plan will be simple: I will put the
blood on my door and make so much noise that the ghost of the dragon will be frightened and
run away..."

"Blood ... I'm so poor that I don't even have a chicken to kill to take his blood." She took her
sharpest knife and cut her finger, letting drips of her blood flow on a cloth until all the drops
joined together completely covered the fabric. She took the fabric and hung it outside on her
door.

Now make loud noises... The firecrackers would be the best but I don't have any. I'm so poor that
I won't be able to buy any and there are no stores open today. She thought and thought about the
bamboos. She knew that when pieces of bamboo burn, they crack in a terrible noise. She took
her sharp knife and went away in the cold to cut a dozen large pieces of bamboo. She placed
them in a pyramid in front of her door just below the bloodstained cloth. So arranged, they
would burn quickly and burst all at once.

When should I light the fire? Just in time. Not too soon, not too late. So that it erupts in the face
of the dragon ghost. She lit a small torch and crouched in the doorway waiting for dawn and the
arrival of the dragon ghost.

She waited and waited. It seemed to her so much she was waiting that the sun was frozen below
the horizon and would not rise today. Everything was quiet, so quiet that the only sound she
could hear the blows of her heart. Eventually the moon and stars began to disappear from the
sky.

Weakly, she heard the howl of the dragon ghost

"Was it time to light the fire? No, the dragon ghost was too far away."

Everyone in the village was lurking in bed under the etchings and blankets. No one was sleeping
knowing that Widow Teng was waiting for the dragon ghost. Only his son slept from the sleep of
an angel.

A howl was heard. The dragon ghost must have been down in the center of the village. It was
time for her to turn on. The Widow Teng took her lantern, tilted it towards the bamboo pyramid
and set it on fire.

She could hear the earth trembling under the weight of the dragon's ghost walking towards her
little house. He was now going down his alley, he was approaching...

When she arrived at her house, the dragon ghost stopped in front of the house and saw the
bloodstained laundry, began to howl so loudly that all his bones trembled. At the same time, the
bamboo fire broke out. The ghost of the dragon terrified by the sight of human blood and the
bamboos that burst ran away through the village.

What about Widow Teng? She sat down and big tears began to flow.

The people of the village came. The bells started ringing and from all sides, the gongs celebrated
this great day while the firecrackers burst the joy!

And since that day, every year, in each of the villages, the blood of the red papers is put around
their doors and noisy firecrackers are lit at dawn and since then, the dragon ghost has never
returned.
Some general traditions during Chinese New Year
春联 chūnlián : parallel sentences written on red paper in celebration of the Spring Festival;
parallel to New Year's currencies
贴春联 tiē chūnlián : collage of chunlian (parallel sentences on red paper) on both sides and
above the door; parallel inscriptions affixed to the door of the main entrance of the house as a
sign of happiness and prosperity.
贴窗花 tiē chūanghuā : Decorate windows with cut-out papers; stick cut-out papers to windows.

贴福 tiēfú : put the character "福""chance/happiness/prosperity" on the door to express one's

aspiration for a happy life and a better future.
倒贴“福”字 dǎotiē "fú" zì : sticking the Chinese character "福" upside down to mean "the arrival
of prosperity", playing on the onomatopoeic effect of the two characters "倒" (upside down) and

"到(arrival).