Lunar New Year

Tuesday 22nd January 2022 will be this year's start to the Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival). Many will be celebrating on the eve of the New Year by eating large feasts, giving and receiving hongbao (red pockets) filled with money and watching lion dances on the streets; The celebrations and festivities are influenced by Chinese New Year, but Lunar New Year is celebrated in other East Asian countries - such as - Singapore, the Philippines and Tibet (countries with a large population of Chinese people). This year, it is the year of the tiger, which represents bravery and competitiveness.

 

The history of Lunar New Year can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046BC) in China, where there would be Winter sacrifices at the end and beginning of the year to the Gods and Ancestors, which would bring hopes of good crop harvest and prosperity in the new year. From 1046-256 BC (the Zhou Dynasty), the sacrificial ceremony became a social practice, and by the Han Dynasty in 202 BC-220 AD, there was a fixed date for Chinese New Year. However, it was only in the Wei-Qing Dynasty (220-1911) and onwards, did the celebrations become about the entertainment and social element, rather than about paganism.

There are many mysterious legends surrounding the beginning of Chinese New Year, and one of the most popular ones is the legend of "Nian". "Nian" was a beast that came every year to devour and destroy all the crops and properties in its way, and the name of the beast sounds like the word for year in Mandarin and Cantonese ('年'); to prevent the beast from demolishing everything the people would leave food outside their homes, so it would eat that food instead of the crops. Although this subdued the beast a little, it never satiated it fully and so it would continue devouring most of the crops, until a man discovered that "Nian" was scared of loud noises and the colour red. Therefore, people began decorating everything red every year and setting crackling fireworks off, to ward the beast away. Thus, the traditions of decorating homes with red banners, leaving lettuce on your front door, re-enactments of this legend and setting firecrackers off.

Another legend is of course the origins of the Chinese Zodiac signs that each represents a new Lunar Year: 'The Heavenly Gate Race' begins with The Jade Emperor wanting twelve animals to be his guards, and so he sent an immortal down to earth to announce this. In order for an animal to become a guard, they would have to be one of the first twelve to arrive at the Heavenly Gates. Once the news got around, the next day the Rat got up early and began to make its way, but when it encountered a river it jumped into the ear of another animal in order to get across; the other animal was the Ox, who did not mind that the Rat was using him to get across the river, despite it being a race. Yet, when the river bank was near enough for the Rat to jump off - it did - and was then able to get to the Heavenly Gates first, making the Ox come second. Meanwhile, the nimble Rabbit and the quick Tiger were close behind (the Tiger came third and the Rabbit, fourth). Coming in at fifth was the Dragon, but due to his handsomeness the Jade Emperor allowed sixth place to go to his son, sadly the Dragon left his son at home. Despite this minor discrepancy, the Snake posed himself as the Dragon's adoptive son, and thus made him sixth place. Next, the Emperor made the Horse and the Goat seventh and eighth place, because they both were so kind to one another, and the Monkey came ninth, even though it had fallen behind slightly. Finally, the last three positions went to the Rooster, Dog and Pig. Each animal becomes the symbol of each Lunar New Year. The tiger, in Chinese culture, symbolises being the 'King of Beasts', due to the way its stripes run along its body, creating the symbol '王' ("wang"), meaning 'King' in Chinese. The tiger can also be tracked back centuries in Chinese history, depicting it being worshipped and loved by the Chinese people. Each of the twelve animals are symbolic in different ways:

1. Rat

2. Ox

3. Tiger

4. Rabbit

5. Dragon

6. Snake

7. Horse

8. Goat

9. Monkey

10. Rooster

11. Dog

12. Pig

We wish everyone celebrating, or not, a Happy Lunar New Year, may you all be in good health and prosper!