Chinese New Year in Taiwan

1. Chinese New Year in Taiwan Thought Questions Key Words Suggested Articles New Year's Eve and Chinese New Year Celebrating Chinese New Year 2001: the Year of the Snake Learning Activities Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

2. Thought Questions • When is Chinese New Year this year? • What do Chinese people usually do to celebrate for Chinese New Year? • What customs do we have on Chinese New Year? • What New Year festivities do you know? • What Chinese New Year food do we usually have? Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

3. Chinese New Year’s Eve 除夕夜 New Year’s Day / the first day of the new year 年初一 clean the house throw away all the garbage 丟垃圾 post spring couplets 春聯 eat New Year‘s Eve Dinner年夜飯 stay up all night 熬夜 return to the natal home/ go back to the daughter‘s home 回娘家 feast with sb. / eat a large dinner with sb. 和人盡情吃喝 visit temples 去廟裡 make New Year‘s visits 拜年 set off firecrackers 放鞭炮 worship the ancestors祭祖 watch dragon dancing/ tiger dancing看舞龍舞獅 the Year of the Snake 蛇年 zodiac animals 十二生肖 New Year‘s Money / lucky money hung bao /red envelops 紅包 lucky words 吉祥話 taboos 禁忌 long vegetables 長年菜 rice cakes 年糕 water dumplings 水餃 relatives, friends, family 親友家人 folk activities民俗活動 festivities 慶祝活動 upcoming 將到的 congratulations 恭喜 Key Words Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

4. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

5. New Year’s Eve & Chinese New Year • The bustle 喧囂 and clamor 吵雜 at the markets selling colorful spring couplets and other New Year‘s decorations. Beginning in mid-December, families all around China start preparing for Chinese New Year, making the feeling of celebration and renewal 更新 palpable 可覺察. • A time of gratitude and family togetherness和睦, New Year‘s Eve is spent by bidding farewell to the old year and thanking one’s ancestors祖先 and the gods神祇 for their blessingand protection保佑. Children that have left their hometown return on this day to share New Year‘s Eve Dinner with their families, and for those unable to make the journey, a table setting is placed to symbolize象徵 their presence in spirit if not in body. • At the end of dinner, the parents and older generation 長輩 give New Year's Money to the children, who have been waiting with growing anticipation for this moment to arrive. Finally, to watch the old year out and bring in the new year, families stay up all night until the wee hours of New Year's Day. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

6. With the arrival 到來 of New Year‘s Day, life is renewed and the new year begins to unfold amidst 在~之間 a din 喧囂 of firecrackers. The Chinese begin the day by worshipping their ancestors, following which the streets become filled with people making New Year's visits to friends and relatives and with the lively display of dragon dancing, tiger dancing, and other folk activities. • To insure the arrival of luck 好運and wealth財富 in the new year, several taboos must be heeded. Floors may not be swept and garbage may not be disposed for fear of casting riches out the door; cussing 咒罵 and quarreling is to be avoided at all costs; and anyone who breaks a dish on this day must quickly say “Peace for all time,” to avoid incurring 招致 misfortune. • On the second day of the new year, married 已婚的 women return to their natal home 回娘家to visit family; on the fourth day, the gods return to the world of the living; and on the fifth day, many new stores and businesses open their doors for the first time due to the auspiciousness 吉祥 of the day. The festive air of celebration continues in this manner all the way up to the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the new year before slowly ebbing back 退回 to normal life again. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

7. Though the customary festivities 慶祝活動held on Chinese New Year have been handed down for millennia, they still retain tremendous significance today. The cleaning and arrangement of one‘s living environment improves household sanitation 居家衛生 and symbolizes a new beginning; the worship of ancestors and deities a reflects of the Chinese particularity about filial piety 孝道 and family ethics 倫理, and services as an expression of gratitude; sitting around the hearth symbolizes unity 團圓 and the value of spending important occasions together with family; and the customs of making New Year‘s visits and returning home to one’s parents after marriage helps to maintain important social bonds 關係 between friends and families. Superstitious 迷信的 taboos, may perhaps be seen as ancient ways of harmonizing and regulating one‘s lifestyle 生活方式. Thus, preserving and incorporating 融入 the values of these New Year traditions into modern day life is a goal we should all strive for 努力. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

8. CELEBRATING CHINESE NEW YEAR • While the Western 西方的 New Year can be celebrated in one evening (not including the next day‘s hangover 殘留物), the Chinese New Year is spread out over a month with delicious food, tradition, and worship 拜拜. • Preparations for the Chinese New Year began January 2nd, which is the 12th month and 8th day of the "Nong Li" (the traditional Chinese lunar calendar). In Chinese, the 12th moon is referred to as La Yue. La Yue marked the beginning of winter. Because of the coldness brought with the 12th moon, there is a Chinese saying "it is so cold that your chin will fall off." In Chinese, chin: "ba" and eight: "ba" have the same sound, so January 2nd marked the beginning of eating "La Ba Zhou," a congee with eight different kinds of beans and nuts, bringing in the cold season and symbolizing the coming of the Chinese New Year. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

9. "Nong Li" 12/16 (January 10th) is the second important day leading the Chinese New Year called “Wei Ya,” and marks Grandfather Earth‘s last birthday for the year of the dragon. Every lunar month, Grandfather Earth has two birthdays, one on the 2nd and one on the 16th. Traditionally, on this day the heads of companies treat招待 their employees to a large dinner or celebration. However, the employees need to watch out. If chicken is served at the table, whomever the chicken head points to usually indicates that that person will not be invited back for the upcoming year 來年. In other words, they're fired. "Today, however," remarks National Taiwan Normal University Professor Lu, "because the Chinese word for chicken 'ji' also sounds like 'lucky,' people tend to turn the chicken head inwards toward the chicken's body, so that everyone will have good luck in the New Year.“ Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

10. "Little New Year," Nong Li 12/23 in the north, or 12/24 in the south (January 17th or 18th this month), marks the “Sending the Gods to Heaven” day. By moving the Buddha or spirit from it‘s resting place, it is sent to Heaven. “In traditional China, most families had a picture of the God of the Hearth 灶神on their stove opening. In the morning on this day, the wife of the house would put a little bit of sweet filling on the spirit's mouth. Then, in the afternoon, when the household cleaned the hearth and removed the picture to send the spirit back to heaven, hopefully the spirit would speak sweet words about the family to the other Gods, and grant them a New Year of peace,“ Lu explained. This is the only day all year that people can move Buddha’s or other Spirits from their shrines 神龕. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

11. New Year‘s eve this year is Nong Li 12/29 (January 23rd), and marks the color red, with firecrackers and an all-night long celebration. Wang, a shop owner in Yong He, explains: “We hang signs in red not only because it means luck and prosperity興旺, but because red will scare away the evil animal New Year represents. Firecrackers do the same. Staying up all night started because in traditional China, all the generations of a family would live together. The older generation could not go out, so the younger generations would stay awake and protect them until the New Year had passed. Nowadays, most people stay up and play mahjong.“ • New Year‘s Eve is also a time of feasting with 盡情吃喝 the family. In the evening, everyone returns home to pay respect to 致意 their ancestors and eat a large dinner with the family. For those who cannot return, a setting of a rice bowl 飯碗 and chopsticks are placed. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

12. Fish implies "remaining" • Traditional New Years Eve food is not eaten just for good taste alone; many have double meanings bringing hopes for the New Year. For example, dumplings represent little bundles of money and riches for the New Year because of their shape, and long vegetables cooked and eaten without cutting them represent long life. • Fish: "yu" in Chinese, also sounds like "remaining" and consequently, should not be finished. "If you finish it, people won't have anything left to bring into the New Year," warns National Taiwan University student Emily Chen. "On the same note, you have to throw away all your garbage before the New Year, because after New Year's day, if you throw anything out, it is like throwing away your money, or throwing away hopes of earning money in the coming year.“ Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

13. The month of the New Year in Chinese is called "He Zheng," and means, "congratulations, everyone still lives." So on the first day of the New Year, many people visit temples, eat vegetarian to honor life, and visit friends and family to wish them a good start to the Chinese New Year. "Traditionally," Professor Lu explains, "People would go visit friends and family in person, but today, with e-mail and cell-phones, it has all become much less personal."  • The Chinese New Year lasts for 15 days (one moon cycle). The second day of the New Year is known as “Going Back to the Daughter‘s Home.” Each husband accompanies his wife to her parent’s home. “One time we didn‘t even make it because the traffic was so congested 擁塞,” remembered Julie Wang, a stockbroker 股票經紀人 in Taipei. "Everyone is on the road at the same time, you can't get anywhere." This is also Grandfather Earth's first birthday of the New Year. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

14. Businesses open • On the fifth day of the New Year, businesses open their doors again to start the New Year and welcome back employees. Mr. Chen, a manager in Hsinzhu remarked, "I go into work to open up the office, but we usually don't start up for another couple of days or so. I greet the employees for a few hours if they want to come by, but then go back home. Traditionally, this is to bring our company good luck for the upcoming year." • The ninth day of the New Year is the Father of Heaven's birthday, and because he is the most important spirit, this is celebrated at 11pm the night before. The time 11pm is thought to be the start of each day during Chinese New Year, so the first deed of the ninth day is offerings of respect. The Father of Heaven's alter is rested on a table or chair to represent his elevated position, and only fruits and special goods can be offered, his position is too high to present either meat or fish. • The last day of the New Year is celebrated by drinking Yuan Hsiao or Tang Yuan: special sweet soups with little round balls of dough filled with different flavors of bean paste 糰. A sweet end to a sweet beginning for the New Year. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

15. 2001: THE YEAR OF THE SNAKEBy Erin Dawson, Special to The China Post • As the Year of the Snake will officially start with the beginning of Chinese New Year on January 24th, many people are divided over what the Year of Snake will bring.Many people refer to the snake as "a little dragon," and find it an inauspicious sign representing danger and mistrust, while others believe that people born in the year of the snake are resourceful, powerful, and cunning. These two beliefs come from different interpretations of the same story. • According to the fable, there was once a snake Goddess, who was so powerful that she could change herself into a person and walk amongst the mortal world.During her time in the mortal world, she fell in love with a mortal man, which was against the rules of Heaven, but the snake Goddess did not listen and broke these rules to be with the mortal. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

16. However, a monk named Hai Fa discovered that the wife was not a mortal woman and separated the couple, sentencing the snake Goddess to live below the temple's pagodas, or face death. The moral people take away from the story varies and leaves the interpretation of the snake unclear. • "I see it as the snake having enough courage and will to follow her heart. She is strong and determined," commented Melody Chu, a National Taiwan Normal University student. • Her classmate Amy Lu held a different view: "The snake went against Heaven, and made the other spirits angry. She is willful to a fault, and stubborn. Like the tiger, the snake will scare away good spirits.“ • According to the astrological charts, a person born in the year of the snake is “wise and intense, but vain 自負. Passionate and determined, the snake is a deep-thinker, but may tend to dismiss people too quickly. The snake is good with money, but also tends to be too stingy. The rooster and the ox are the snake's closest signs while the pig is its enemy.“ Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

17. As for why the Chinese zodiac has 12 animals, there are many stories. According to Historian Chang Liang-wang, a more popular version comes from the "Lun-heng," by Wang Chung of the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD).The Jade Emperor was looking for 12 creatures to match the 12 earthly branches, so he decided to hold a race in which the first 12 would be chosen in the order they came in. A section of the race crossed a river. The cat and the rat, who were not great swimmers, begged the water buffalo to carry them across. The water buffalo agreed, but half way across, the rat pushed the cat into the river. • As the buffalo reached the bank, the rat jumped off its back and took first. The buffalo came in second and the snake eventually placed sixth, which will bring in this Chinese New Year. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

18. Learning Activities • Film Discussion • Spend some time to watch one of the films with your group members and then discuss what the film is about. One of you needs to do an oral presentation in class. • E-mail correspondence • Exchanging your e-diary via e-mails with international key pals. You may also attach several pictures about Chinese New Year for him or her in the mails. Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School

19. Assignment • Hand in your written draft on “2001--The Year of the Little Dragon”next week. Think about the following questions before writing the report. • How do you like Chinese New Year? • What did your family do to celebrate for Chinese New Year? Start to describe the activities from New Year’s Eve to the fifth day of the new year. • How much lucky money do you have this year? And how are you going to spend it? • What are your New Year wishes for the Little Dragon Year? Badi Chen, St. Paul's High School