CHINESE NEW YEAR

Unit 2

By:

Shahzad Ali Khan

HOD English

4 May 2020 1

WHAT IS A FESTIVAL?

• A festival is an event celebrated by a community, centering on

some important aspect of that community based on

its religion or cultures.

• It is often marked as a local or national holiday.

4 May 2020 2

SIGNIFICANCE OF FESTIVALS?

• Festivals often serve to fulfill specific communal purposes, especially

to commemorate or thank gods and goddesses.

• Celebrations create a sense of belonging for a religious, social, or

geographical groups, contributing to group cohesiveness and also

provide entertainment.

4 May 2020 3

PURPOSE OF FESTIVALS

• Festivals focus on cultural or ethnic topics, aimining to inform

community members of their traditions; the involvement

of elders sharing stories and experience provides a means for unity

among families.

4 May 2020 4

FESTIVALS A COMBINATION OF RELIGION AND CULTURE

• Many festivals have religious origins which combines with culture. This

combination of culture and religion is seen in traditional activities. The

most important religious festivals such as Christmas, Rosh

Hashanah, Diwali, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are celebrated through

out the year.

• Others, such as harvest festivals, celebrate seasonal change.

• Events of historical significance, such as important military victories or

other nation-building events also provide the impetus for a festival.

4 May 2020 5

STARTING OF CHINESE NEW YEAR

• It is a custom that Chinese New Year starts with a holiday which marks

the beginning of a new Chinese Lunar Calendar.

• In china, lunar calendar which is based on the phases of the moon is

used to determine the Chinese traditional holidays as a result, the

traditional holidays are never on the same day every year.

• However, according to the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese New Year

usually falls somewhere between 21st January and 20th February. The

new year celebrations continue for a month.

4 May 2020 6

SIGNIFICANCE OF CHINESE NEW YEAR FOR THE FAMILIES

• New Year holiday is very important for Chinese families because the

celebrations center on large family gatherings, gift giving, eating of

symbolic food (typical food) and display of festive decorations.

• All the celebrations aim to welcome

❖good luck for the come year

❖and celebrate the arrival of spring season.

4 May 2020 7

SOME TRADITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH CHINESE NEW YEAR

1. Cleaning of house

2. Wearing of new clothes.

3. Decorating houses/ decoration of the house.

4. New Year’s Eve Dinner.

5. Giving good luck gifts.

6. Honoring the animals.

7. Family re-union.

4 May 2020 8

1. CLEANING OF HOUSE

• Before the first day of the new year, it is customary for the families to

clean their houses completely because it is believed that cleaning the

house would clear out any bad luck from the previous year and make

the house ready to accept the good luck from the new year.

• Houses are not cleaned on the first day of the new year because

people think that by doing so they might throw out the good luck of the

new year.

4 May 2020 9

2. WEARING OF NEW DRESS

• Families on new year wear new dresses however, wearing of black

colour is forbidden because of its association to death. The color that

is encouraged to worn on the new year’s is red because it is believed

that red colour protects from evil spirits.

4 May 2020 10

3. DECORATING HOUSES/ DECORATION OF HOUSE

• The windows and doors of the houses are decorated with posters and

signs bearing the Chinese word “FU”, meaning luck and happiness.

• Houses are also decorated with flowers which symbolize the arrival of

spring and new beginning.

4 May 2020 11

•Decorations and Posters

4 May 2020 12

4. NEW YEAR’S EVE DINNER

• On new year it is customary for families to visit their relatives and

participate in large dinner gatherings where specific food is prepared

and served.

• The new year dinner consists of “eight” or “nine” food dishes.

Specific number of dishes are prepared because in Chinese language

eight refers to “prosperity” while nine means “long-lasting”.

4 May 2020 13

5. GIVING GOOD LUCK GIFTS

• It is a tradition that on new year, adults give little red envelops filled

with money to children to symbolize wealth and prosperity for the

coming year.

• Red packets are also distributed by the elders amongst the un-

married family members.

• The envelops or the packets are not opened until the recipient has

left the givers home.

4 May 2020 14

6. HONORING ANIMALS

• Every Chinese New year is associated with one of the twelve Chinese

zodiac.

• One of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals is also represented in the

decorations.

• Chinese believe people born during the year of a particular animal

have characteristics of that animal.

4 May 2020 15

7. FAMILY RE-UNION

• Chinese New Year is a time when family gets together to thank for the

passing year, revive their relationship, celebrate the new year’s

festivities and promise to be strong in the new year.

4 May 2020 16

TASK

• Read the slides carefully and answer the questions given as

assignment which would be uploaded on college website.

4 May 2020 17