The Chinese New Year is not only the most important but also the longest of all holidays in the People's Republic of China. Here it is called the Spring Festival, symbolizing the rebirth of nature.
Like all traditional holidays, this one has its roots deep in time. The day when the new year takes over has been floating in China since ancient times. Since it is the Lunar New Year, it is tied to the lunar calendar, and its date depends on the phases of the moon. Thus, every year, the new year in China falls on the day of the winter new moon. The celebrations last from new moon to new moon — a full half month. It all begins with the launch of fireworks, joyful excitement, and the thick smell of incense on the streets, and ends with the solemn Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day.
New Year Traditions and Legends
Interestingly, with the start of the Lunar New Year celebrations, red flags and scrolls appear everywhere: in house windows, at the doors of small shops, and at street vendors' stalls. This is not because the Chinese are adherents of the communist path (although, of course, no one has canceled that doctrine here either). It is because the color red here is the traditionally beloved color of joy, happiness, and luck. In Chinese symbolism since ancient times, it represents the phoenix bird, and this is one of the main characters in Chinese cosmogony. The phoenix bird, reborn after death, symbolizes splendor and beauty, the southern exuberance of life, heat, the scorching sun, and the element of fire.
In China, there are a multitude of red things. According to beliefs, red drives out evil spirits and protects against malevolent spirits, which, according to myths, have abounded in the lands of China since ancient times. Evil spirits kill livestock, bring illnesses upon children, and cause many other troubles. One must protect oneself from them. Therefore, during the New Year, all of China literally blazes with red.
Of course, even here it's not so simple. This holiday is painted in fiery colors not just because there is a sea of noisy joy all around. The exuberance of the color red during these days is associated with a very ancient belief, which is not surprising, because in China there is literally a legend for every occasion in life.
There are a ton of beliefs, legends, and rituals in China. Often these are seasonal customs – for the Mid-Autumn Festival, for example, they bake mooncakes, which, according to a widespread myth, helped overthrow the Mongol Yuan Empire (with the help of mooncakes, conspirators passed messages to each other, encoded in the complex ornamentation of these traditional ancient sweets, and from some point on, the mooncake came to be considered a symbol of unity).
Well, as for the color red, it became the New Year's color in China for the following reason...
Once upon a time, long, long ago, a monster appeared in the lands of ancient China, looking like a horned fierce beast – that's according to one version; there is another that says the monster resembled a huge dog with a lion's head and sharp fangs. However, much water has flowed under the bridge since then, and we will never know the true appearance of the mythical beast.
This creature had a nasty habit – appearing in the human world on the eve of the Lunar New Year (the monster was even named accordingly, Nian, which means "year" in Chinese), darkening their lives with all sorts of troubles: sometimes this beast devoured livestock, other times it completely swept away grain from barns and insatiably ate up all food supplies. This horned monster was also not averse to feasting on people, especially little children; they were to its taste.
The inhabitants of ancient China fought this scourge as best they could: with the arrival of the New Year, they left food on the thresholds of their homes to appease Nian – hoping it would get full and not harm anyone in the settlement.
But then one day, chance helped the people. One New Year's night, the monster noticed a little boy in bright red clothes and fled in fear. Aha, so it's afraid of the color red – the villagers realized.
Later, people discovered the monster's other weaknesses – it turned out that not only the color red scared it away, but also loud sounds.
Since then, it has become customary – to make as much noise as possible on New Year's, set off firecrackers and fiery-colored fireworks.
Of course, the Chinese don't do this because they are afraid of the mythical Nian. In fact, they simply love fireworks, impressive light shows, and bright festive lights immensely. And they also get joy from the fact that by making all this colorful noise, they are following an ancient tradition – nothing better could be devised for a Chinese person.
This Happens Only Once Every Sixty Years
According to their calendar, the Chinese live in 60-year cycles. Each cycle is a combination of 12 zodiac animals of a specific color, and the colors in turn symbolize one of the five elements – earth, water, fire, metal, wood.
Local residents will celebrate the year 2025 on January 29th. According to the local calendar, this will be the Year of the Wood Snake, or the Green Snake (according to the Chinese theory of the Five Elements, wood is associated with the color green).
The celebrations will continue until February 12th, until the Lantern Festival, when it is customary to light red lanterns on city streets.
This is also one of the ancient customs. It is associated with the ascension to the throne of Emperor Wendi of the Western Han Dynasty, who ordered those very red lanterns to be lit everywhere on the first day of his reign. Everyone liked the beautiful spectacle, and over time it grew into a tradition. In 104 BC, the Lantern Festival acquired the status of a state holiday. According to an old custom, on this day, the country's residents light lanterns everywhere and treat themselves to soup with sweet dumplings and boiled pastries.
Such antiquities accompany the Chinese New Year, one of the longest holidays on this planet.