Looks like it’s time for resolutions…
We, at Explorica, resolve to keep bringing you more and more cultural insights, of course. And while some of us are still settling on goals (eat healthier, exercise and read more), another part of the world is just beginning their countdown to the New Year. January 23rd is the big day that starts the year of the dragon for the Chinese and the Tet celebration for the Vietnamese. This week, we’ll take a peek into how these Asian cultures may ring in 2012—from traditional decorations to holiday foods. And while we’re at it, we’ll show you how to join in the festivities and brighten up your classroom by making your own New Year’s paper lanterns.
Chinese New Year
Where the Western world celebrates the New Year overnight, the Chinese take a full 15 days to ring it in with family fun, fireworks and a whole lot of holiday…cleaning. You heard me. Talk about “out with the old”! Once the house is in tiptop shape, families decorate their doors and windows with red paper-cuts (simply, paper with cut-outs to make intricate designs) to welcome all that good luck floating around. Why red? The color symbolizes good fortune and joy. Symbols of good fortune, happiness, wealth and longevity fill the air during the Chinese New Year. They literally hang in the air, as families suspend pairs of poetic lines called couplets around their homes crafted around those ideas.
These themes run so deep that they’re even present in the food. The holiday feast, called reunion dinner, is filled with varieties of chicken, pork and fish. (You might say it’s a gathering for omnivores.) But, no matter how scrumptious the feast or how hungry the diners, the Chinese never finish the prized “lucky fish.” Some of the fish is stored overnight because the phrase, “every year there’s fish leftover” is a homophone for the Chinese phrase that means “have profit every year.”
Closing their 15-day celebration, the Chinese claim to fame is their magical lantern festival. A Buddhist rite established by a Chinese emperor during the Han Dynasty, the grand festival has since expanded into a country-wide celebration. Streets, homes and storefronts fill with silk, paper and even glass lanterns. The night is capped off with beautiful firework displays all over China. If you happen to visit China during the festival, don’t forget to wear your red. It’s believed that the New Years monster, “Nian,” who comes to destroy crops and homes, fears the fiery color.
