Chinese New Year this year brings the year of the rabbit. I wonder if we will be present to this after today.
There are a lot of traditions - more than I imagined. And a lot of time to celebrate them in - since the mid-1990s the Chinese have been given seven consecutive days off work. As there are 15 days of traditional celebrations, they will need to double up..
What are the celebrations? I took a look to find out and realize how little I know about the traditions and legends. Just the first few days:
It says the first day is "Birthday of Chicken" where the oldest and most senior members will be visited. The second day is "Birthday of Dog" where people will burn the picture they welcomed on the New Year's Eve, and traditionally married women will visit and pay respect to their birth parents. Since the day is characterised by the birthday of the dogs, pets and strays will be fed well.
The third day is "Birthday of Pig" where families who had an immediate relative deceased in the past 3 years will not go house-visiting as a form of respect to the dead. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead. Some people conclude it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all, as it is believed that evil spirits roam the earth this day and hence it would be bad luck to be outdoors.
We skip ahead to Sheep, Ox, Cattle, Horse, and at day 7 are at the "Birthday of Men". This is the day when human beings were created. We still have to get to Day 15, so there are lots of celebrations yet to come.
Some of the traditions are taboos such as no hair cutting, no using scissors, knives and other sharp things, no arguing, swearing, saying unlucky words (death, sickness) and no breaking things. And then there are articles on what to wear, typical Chinese New Year greetings, and so on.
One in five people in the world is Chinese. Shouldn't Chinese New Year be a part of our lives in some way more than a one day celebration around the world. Its traditions seem so separate from "western culture."
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