Welcoming the Year of the Rooster in Vancouver Chinatown!
Chinese New Year is usually celebrated for the first 15 days of the Lunar January. 2017 is the Year of the Rooster, start your day early with a strong sense of timekeeping and responsibility. Just like the horoscope, there are basic elements that bring good luck. For instance, lucky numbers for Roosters are 5,7, 8, and any combination of the three numbers. The start of Chinese New Year depends on the phases of the moon, or on a lunar calendar rather than on the Gregorian calendar. While the date changes yearly, it usually begins between late January and early February. Prepare yourself, as January 28th marks the first day of the Chinese New Year!
Household Preparations
Cleaning before the Chinese New Year is a tradition. The grounds, the walls and every corner of the house need to be cleaned. In Chinese, “Dust” is a homophone for the word “Old”, thus cleaning means to drive the bad luck, or the old things, away from the house to get ready for a new start. It is also common to buy new clothes or have a haircut for a fresh start. Houses and buildings are decorated with red, as it is believed to be an auspicious colour that depicts prosperity. For example, Chinese knots are prepared and placed around the house during the festival. These knots are used as gifts or decorations containing the blessing for other people. There are many banners with Chinese phrases, called “Fai Chun”, that are posted on windows and walls. The most common and well-known is “Kung Hei Fat Choi”, but other phrases wish good-health, good karma, success in education, and a prosperous New Year. You may also remember seeing the Chinese character “Fu”, which means “Good Fortune”, “Good Luck” or “Happiness”. It is often posted upside down to mean that good fortune is arriving.
New Year’s Snacks
Chinese New Year food & snacks all have symbolic meanings based on their names or appearances. Eg: Mandarin oranges – Gold, Pineapple tarts – Prosperity is arriving, and Sweets shaped in auspicious figures – Wealth. The snacks are traditionally placed in an 8 slotted tray and offered to visiting friends and family. The slots are filled with bite sized candies and snacks from sweets to peanuts and watermelon seeds, each with its own special meaning for New Year’s. The New Year’s Eve Dinner is called “Reunion Dinner”. This dinner is the most important meal of the year for families to gather and enjoy a meal and time together; it is the equivalent of the Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner traditionally includes dumplings, chicken, pork, noodles, and fish. A type of black hair-like algae, called “Fat Choi,” literally “Hair Vegetable” in Chinese is included at the dinner. The dish “Fat Choi” sounds similar to “Prosperity”. Red envelopes, containing lucky money, are prepared for children by adults and the elderly and given after the reunion dinner. In folk culture, the children will live safe and sound for the whole year if they receive lucky money. This custom still remains. Some families also save the money for future use or use it to help cultivate in their children the habit of saving.