Happy Chinese New Year from everyone here at Bloxham School!
Today marks the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese Calendar, seeing us transition from the Year of the Ox to the Year of the Tiger.
To give us an insight into the festival, two of our international students, Cheuk Hay and Chi Cheng, provide the following report:
An overview of Chinese New Year – Cheuk Hay
Chinese New Year, otherwise known as ‘Spring Festival’ and/or the ‘Lunar New Year,’ is a festival where we celebrate a New Year of the traditional Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year came from a mythical story about the monster called Nian. According to the story, red items are hung around as the Nian is afraid of the colour red.
Traditions
Red Packets
Red Packets are a gift given from relatives during the festival. You ask them to give red packets by saying blessings to them. Red packets usually have money inside them; the amount varies by how close you are from them.
Poon Choi
Poon Choi is a type of food that you would eat together as a whole family. It usually consists with a large variety of food, including dried mushrooms, shrimp, and abalone.
Tangyuan
Tangyuan are a type of food which is surrounded with glutinous rice flour and traditionally has black sesame fillings inside. It is not only eaten during Chinese New Year, but also in festivals like Mid-autumn Festivals. Tangyuan means ‘reunion’
My Experience of Chinese New Year – Chi Cheng
In Macao, when we celebrate Chinese New Year, the whole atmosphere is lively and full of Chinese New Year vibes. All the streets and alleys are decorated with red lanterns, paintings, cuttings, and much more. On the day before Chinese New Year, every household gets busy preparing new year goods, buying new clothes, cleaning the whole house, going to the flower markets, and putting up all the festive decorations and spring couplets.
My mum would buy loads of plants with red decorations to bring back home and fill the balcony and garden with orange trees and chrysanthemum flowers which mean having a long life and have a lucky year. We will also have a peach blossom tree at home for good luck. A-ma Temple is one of the most iconic buildings in Macao and is now the oldest among three ancient temples in Macao. A lot of residents in Macao would go to the temples and pray. On the day of Chinese New Year, we gather with our family for a reunion dinner and wish everyone a happy new year, and we also receive red packets from the elders. We all change into the new clothes we bought and go to our family homes to wish them happy new year.
At the Ruins of St. Pauls, Macao’s most famous landmark, Golden dragons, Chinese martial arts, and lion-awaking performances are performed, and loads of people crowd up around there to watch.
Lastly and most importantly, what makes Chinese New Year feel the most like the festival are firecrackers. Thousands of households light up firecrackers and the sound of them scares away evil spirits, saying goodbye to the old year, and welcoming the new.
