The one celebrated in 2021 for the Chinese New Year is the ox or buffalo which represents prosperity achieved through work and commitment. It is a resilient animal and so are those born in this year that for the Chinese calendar, which follows the phases of the moon, begins this 12 February.
According to legend, the origin of the Chinese horoscope is a competition between animals to become the personal guards of the Heavenly Jade Emperor who was looking for companions for the afterlife now at the end of his life.
The winner was the rat who got carried away by the ox and jumped in front of him as soon as he reached the finish line. The 12 signs of the zodiac must be multiplied by 5 because every 12 years also one of the elements of which nature is composed for the Chinese alternates: metal, water, fire, wood, earth.
The Chinese Ministry of Transportation has estimated that one billion and 200 million trips they could be done on holidays that revolve around the New Year, the most important holiday of the year in China, which is actually called the spring festival. The number of travelers seems huge in time of Covid, but it is less than half of those who have moved in 2019 for the holidays that are the classic ones of visiting relatives.
The Chinese government, always fearful of the spread of the disease, has asked as many people as possible to don’t move and some cities gave economic incentives to those who stayed at home. The messages also passed on social networks. The hashtag of Zhang Wenhong, head of the Shanghai Covid-19 Medical Treatment Expert Group has had hundreds of views: “Spending the Spring Festival at home is a sacrifice, but I have great admiration for the comrades who make a contribution to all the people Chinese”.
THE HISTORY OF THE NEW YEAR
The first character in this tale is a demon named Nian. Human sacrifices were offered to him every 12 months. Legend has it that Nian was terrified of the red color and loud noises. To avoid this annual toll, the Chunjie was born, the spring festival full of red and noisy fireworks. Do you know what is the Chinese word for year? Nian, like the demon who is no longer there and who is represented by the cardboard dragon of the dancing parades.
WHAT YEAR IS IT
The traditional Chinese agricultural calendar is lunisolar and the months always begin with the new moon. It is a 12-year cycle that is renewed. New Year usually coincides with the second new moon after the winter solstice, in some rare cases the third, and varies between January 21 and February 19 on the Western calendar. For the Chinese calendar we are in 4719 because the years are counted from what for us is 2637 BC
THE TRADITIONS
Never cut your hair, it brings suffering in the year, and no cleaning is done. It is traditional to exchange red envelopes (now everything is done with phone apps) with a gift of usually money that wards off evil spirits. The number must be even, but never multiple of 4, excluding 8, because it is bad.
HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE IT?
First of all by dressing in red, which brings good luck. In China, the holidays last several days and are held in the family even by moving to visit relatives. The New Year opens a 15-day long holiday period that ends with the lantern festival. In reality in China they are holidays, so with offices and schools closed, only the first seven.
EVE
On the eve of the new year, what we would call spring cleaning takes place. Bad luck is symbolically swept away so that good luck arrives in the new year. Major cleaning in the previous days, none in the first days of the year because it would wipe out the fortune entered. Everything you do in the first few days is aimed at letting in luck. A sign is hung with a Chinese character, FU which means luck, and hung upside down to let good luck enter. If you hang it straight it works the other way around.
NEW YEAR
Visit relatives and welcome in the home of the benign deities of heaven and earth. It is bad luck to eat meat and cook on this day. Francesco Boggio Ferraris, director of the permanent training school of the Italy China Foundation, explained to Vanity Fair: «Everything revolves around food and its meanings, symbols linked to homophony. There are so many things that are pronounced the same way because the Chinese language is poor in sound. Fish for example is equal to prosperity in sound (YU), despite having a different ideogram. Fish is the key ingredient in any dish, especially crucian carp which is pronounced JIYU and means good luck. On each windowsill there is a pyramid of oranges and mandarins, a symbol of the New Year. CHENG is the pronunciation of orange and also of success and fortune ».
OTHER DAYS
On the second day, worship of the dead and return to the parents’ home to visit married women. On the third and fourth day we stay at home because superstition says that quarrels are easy. “The fifth day is considered the birth date of the Chinese God of money and wealth. We eat homemade ravioli which resemble traditional gold ingots in shape as we eat lentils, symbol of abundance ». The seventh day is the anniversary of renri, everyone’s birthday and the day of man’s creation. “This is the day of kindness and love.” On the fifteenth there is the lantern festival. You go down to the street with bright and colored lanterns in your hand. The candles outside the houses serve to guide well-wishers to the houses.
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