{"id":16959,"date":"2022-01-20T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=16959"},"modified":"2022-01-19T22:43:49","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T02:43:49","slug":"a-spring-festival-history-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/a-spring-festival-history-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"A Spring Festival History Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time of the year again, as China gears up for its most important holiday \u2013\u00a0 the Spring Festival<\/strong> (\u6625\u8282 ch\u016bn ji\u00e9). Also known around the world as Chinese New Year\u00a0<\/strong>(\u519c\u5386\u65b0\u5e74 n\u00f3ng l\u00ec x\u012bn ni\u00e1n), this holiday begins on the first day of the first month<\/strong> (\u6b63\u6708 zh\u0113ng yu\u00e8) of the lunar calendar. That’s February 1st in 2022 in case you were wondering. The celebration ends with a bang (literally), during the Lantern Festival<\/strong> (\u5143\u5bb5\u8282 yu\u00e1n xi\u0101o ji\u00e9). With the holiday fast approaching, it’s time for a Spring Festival history lesson here.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Jason Leung<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

An Intro to Spring Festival<\/h2>\n

While China has many festivals, this one is by far the most important. It is also the longest, spanning 15 days. Students enjoy a lengthy vacation, while all working adults will get a week off. During the Spring Festival, nearly everyone in China heads home, representing the biggest mass migration of people on Earth every year. This is known in Chinese as Spring Festival rush<\/strong><\/a> (\u6625\u8fd0 ch\u016bn y\u00f9n).<\/p>\n

During this time, airports, train stations, and bus stations are absolute insanity all across the country. Tickets can be impossible to come by as everyone wants to be home for the big holiday. This year, around 1.2 billion passenger trips are expected over the 40-day chun yun<\/em> period.<\/p>\n

With so much demand for train tickets, there are opportunistic scalpers<\/strong> (\u9ec4\u725b hu\u00e1ng ni\u00fa). That’s right – the Chinese name for ticket scalpers translates as “yellow cow.” Click here<\/a> to find out why.<\/p>\n

There are many traditions and customs associated with this holiday, many of which are known throughout the world. This includes the lighting of fireworks, the zodiac <\/strong><\/a>(\u751f\u8096 sh\u0113ng xi\u00e0o) cycle with its 12 animals, and the famous lion dances<\/strong> (\u821e\u72ee w\u01d4 sh\u012b). It’s a very festive time of year as people decorate their homes with couplets<\/strong> (\u6625\u806f ch\u016bn li\u00e1n).<\/p>\n

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\u5e74\u591c\u996d – New Year’s Dinner<\/p><\/div>\n

People gather with their family for a big New Year’s dinner<\/strong> (\u5e74\u591c\u996d ni\u00e1n y\u00e8 f\u00e0n) that includes a whole bunch of food. Many people make dumplings<\/strong> (\u997a\u5b50 ji\u01ceo zi) for the holiday. It’s also common to have fish because of the expression “may you have abundance every year<\/strong>” (\u5e74\u5e74\u6709\u4f59 ni\u00e1n ni\u00e1n y\u01d2u y\u00fa). Get it? It’s because \u4f59 (y\u00fa) sounds like \u9c7c (y\u00fa). This is one of many Chinese New Year greetings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now that you know a little more about the holiday, let’s learn some Spring Festival history.<\/p>\n

History of the Spring Festival<\/h2>\n

In Chinese, the character \u5e74 (ni\u00e1n) means year<\/em>. There\u2019s also a tale from Chinese mythology of a beast called\u00a0Nian, who lived under the mountains or the sea. Once a year, the beast would come out of hiding to attack and even eat people. Worst of all, it was especially fond of children.<\/p>\n

As the story goes, it attacked a village<\/strong> (\u6751\u5e84 c\u016bn zhu\u0101ng) one year, ravaging its crops and feasting on its people. From then on, the villagers would flee the village every year in order to avoid the devastation.<\/p>\n

However, one year an old man came to the village and asked a local grandma<\/strong> (\u5976\u5976 n\u01cei nai) if he could stay in her home. She obliged, although she and the others thought the man would surely die. Once again, all of the villagers ran away, while the old man stayed behind.<\/p>\n

That night, Nian showed up just like always. This year, however, things were different, as it noticed\u00a0red<\/strong> (\u7ea2\u8272 h\u00f3ng s\u00e8) paper on the gate. Then it heard the loud noise of\u00a0firecrackers<\/strong> (\u70df\u82b1 y\u0101n hu\u0101), which terrified the monster.<\/p>\n

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Decorations and fireworks everywhere.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the middle of the home stood the old man, dressed in red from head to toe. The abundance of red and the loud sounds of the firecrackers were too much for Nian to bear, and he fled in fear.<\/p>\n

The next day, the villagers returned, surprised to see the old man had survived. From that year on, they decided to wear red robes and light firecrackers in order to scare away the beast.<\/p>\n

Luckily, their plan worked, and the evil Nian was scared away for good. It never bothered that village again, and while it is still believed to exist, it is said that the beast is scattered amongst the mountains and will never appear in front of humans again.<\/p>\n

From this story come many of the Spring Festival traditions, such as decorating homes with all things red, lighting firecrackers, and performing a lion dance. For a fun listening activity, check out this video from the Confucius Institute telling the story of Nian:<\/p>\n