Top 8 Chinese New Year Traditions
Chinese New Year is also known as 春节 (chūn jié), the Spring Festival. Half the fun of the Spring Festival is reviving all the traditions around the holiday. How do Chinese people celebrate this important festival? Let’s see the top 8 Chinese New Year traditions along the timeline!
扫尘 (sǎo chén), House Cleaning
About one week before the Chinese New Year, families will start the preparation for the New Year celebration, including cleaning the house. 尘 means “dust” in Chinese. 扫尘, literally: "sweeping the dust", has a sense of 辞旧迎新 (cí jiù yínɡ xīn), saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
祭祖(jì zǔ), Honoring Ancestors
Honoring and remembering ancestors who’ve passed away is a tradition that probably goes back to the very start of the holiday itself. Paying a visit to the cemetery with prepared food and drink in the morning and putting them out on the tomb to invite ancestor spirits is a common tradition.
贴春联 (tiē chūn lián), Posting Spring Festival Couplets
One day or earlier before the New Year, every family will select couplets that they think represent the best meaning for fortune and luck. The couplets always come in pairs. It includes a 上联 (shànɡ lián) “the first line of a couplet”, a 下联 (xià lián) “the second line of a couplet” and a 横批 (hénɡ pī) “the top scroll”. Besides the couplets, people also paste other red decorations such as window paper-cuts and the character 福 (fú).
The character 福 means “good fortune” or “happiness” in Chinese. Paper-cuts are auspicious words or patterns cut on red paper. All of them carry people's good wish and yearning for the future. In the past, all of the couplets and paper-cuts were hand-made, but now, people can buy printed ones.
年夜饭 (chī nián yè fàn), New Year Eve Dinner
The Chinese New Year Eve dinner is called 团圆饭 (tuán yuán fàn), the “reunion dinner”, very much alike of the Thanksgiving dinner.
The Chinese New Year’s Eve meal is the most important dinner of the year. Usually, families of several generations gather together to enjoy the big meal and at the same time watch the Spring Festival Gala show.
These days, the trend is to celebrate the New Year’s Eve dinner at a restaurant. As the number of this type of families is growing, many restaurants require reservations months in advance.
放鞭炮 (fànɡ biān pào), Setting off Firecrackers
Chinese New Year has a long history and many myths, one of which is about the mythical beast called Nian. The myth says that Nian would show up every New Year’s Eve to disturb people’s lives!
People in the past will burn crackling bamboo to scare away the beast Nian. As history develops, people set off firecrackers instead. Setting off firecrackers is also seen as a way to bring good fortune and wealth in the next year. Nowadays, since the Chinese government is advocating the idea of Green Environment, and because setting off fireworks leads to more and more injuries and deaths, it is forbidden in most of China’s major cities. In rural areas of China, however, it’s still quite a popular New Year tradition.
守岁 (shǒu suì), Staying Up until Midnight
守岁 starts from the beginning of the New Year dinner. People will eat the dinner without being in hurry. They will enjoy the the family reunion time, watch the Gala show until Midnight, to welcome the New Year, and saying farewell to the past.
拜年 (bài nián), Paying New Year Visit
Visiting relatives and friends during Chinese New Year and exchanging gifts and wishes is called 拜年 (bài nián). It is a tradition that goes on throughout the Chinese New Year holiday. Kids like this tradition most because they can get 压岁钱 (yā suì qián) the "lucky money" from the elders.
When visiting family and friends, remember to prepare your red envelopes or gifts! It’s considered rude to show up at someone’s home empty-handed!
元宵节 (yuán xiāo jié), Lantern Festival
The Chinese New Year celebrations will last until 元宵节, the "Lantern Festival" which falls on the 15th day of the lunar calendar. On this day, people will eat 元宵, meaning “reunion”, visit the lantern show and watch dragon dances. All types of lanterns and lights are lit throughout the streets and often poems and riddles are often written for entertainment.
Besides the major traditions above, there are a lot more types of traditions and celebrations throughout the Chinese New Year such as welcoming the God of Wealth on the 5th day of the New Year, exchanging 红包 (hong bao), praying at the temple, etc.
2022 is the Year of Tiger according to Chinese Zodiac signs. If you haven’t looked up your Chinese horoscope sign, use our Chinese Zodiac Animal Calculator to get yours!
Meet the 12 Chinese Zodiac signs and take a brief overview of the personality traits associated with them.