{"id":16983,"date":"2022-02-15T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=16983"},"modified":"2022-02-12T16:10:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-12T20:10:00","slug":"spring-festival-daily-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/spring-festival-daily-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"A Daily Guide for Spring Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China<\/strong> (\u6625\u8282\u662f\u4e2d\u56fd\u6700\u91cd\u8981\u7684\u8282\u65e5 ch\u016bn ji\u00e9 sh\u00ec zh\u014dng gu\u00f3 zu\u00ec zh\u00f2ng y\u00e0o de ji\u00e9 r\u00ec). We’ve talked about this traditional festival a lot here on the blog, including this Spring Festival history lesson<\/a> and a post about the busy travel season known as chun yun <\/em><\/strong><\/a>(\u6625\u8fd0 ch\u016bn y\u00f9n). But what happens after the big dinner and all the fireworks? Well, more fireworks of course, but that’s not all. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at days 2-15 of the Spring Festival.<\/p>\n

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Image by tank air<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Days 2-15 of Spring Festival<\/h2>\n

The second day of the New Year is known as the beginning of the year<\/strong> (\u5f00\u5e74 k\u0101i ni\u00e1n). Many women who have been married will visit their parents, as chances are they don\u2019t do this very often during the year. Also, many people will pray and make offerings to their ancestors and the gods on this day. Some believe that this day is the birthday of all dogs, so puppies everywhere will get a special treat.<\/p>\n

The third day of the New Year is known as red mouth<\/strong> (\u8d64\u53e3 ch\u00ec k\u01d2u). As this sounds similar to the word for the God of Blazing Wrath<\/strong> (\u8d64\u72d7\u65e5 ch\u00ec g\u01d2u r\u00ec), it is believed that this is not a good day to visit relatives or friends. Some will visit the graves of recently deceased relatives to pay their respects. The fourth day is basically a continuation of the third, and some men will visit and pay respects to their in-laws<\/strong> (\u59fb\u4eb2 y\u012bn q\u012bn).<\/p>\n

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A tasty plate of dumplings.
Photo taken and used with permission from Sasha Savinov.<\/p><\/div>\n

Day #5 is known as Po Wu<\/strong> (\u7834\u4e94 p\u00f2 w\u01d4), and it’s another day for eating dumplings<\/strong><\/a> (\u6c34\u997a shu\u01d0 ji\u01ceo) in northern China (there really are so many of them). It is also believed that this day is the birthday of the Chinese God of Wealth<\/strong> (\u8d22\u795e c\u00e1i sh\u00e9n). On this day, no one visits family and friends, as it is believed doing so will bring both parties bad luck.<\/p>\n

The sixth day is a time to visit temples, family, and friends freely. On the seventh day, Chinese will celebrate the common man\u2019s birthday<\/strong> (\u4eba\u65e5 r\u00e9n r\u00ec). On this day, everyone grows one year older. Special foods are eaten according to the origin of the people. For example, some eat noodles for longevity, while others eat raw fish for success.<\/p>\n

By the eighth day, a whole lot of celebrating has been done, and it\u2019s time for most people to get back to work. Government agencies and businesses will open their doors up once again, and the official holiday comes to an end. Some businesses will have a special lunch or dinner to thank their employees for all their hard work leading up to the New Year.<\/p>\n

The ninth day is meant to make offerings for the birthday of the Jade Emperor of Heaven <\/strong>(\u5929\u516c ti\u0101n g\u014dng). After that, the tenth through twelfth days are spent enjoying more delicious food with family and friends. With so much eating over two weeks, Day #13 is a day to start trying to work off all of that holiday feasting. On this day, people will eat purely vegetarian foods<\/strong><\/a> (\u7d20\u98df s\u00f9 sh\u00ed) to cleanse their stomachs.<\/p>\n

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Chinese scenes during the Lantern Festival.<\/p><\/div>\n

With the festival finally drawing to a close, the fourteenth day is spent making decorations for the next and final day – the Lantern Festival<\/strong><\/a> (\u5143\u5bb5\u8282 yu\u00e1n xi\u0101o ji\u00e9). This is the first day of the full moon, so rice dumplings<\/strong> (\u6c64\u5706 t\u0101ng yu\u00e1n) that resemble the moon are eaten.<\/p>\n

Outside of homes everywhere, candles are lit to guide wayward spirits home. People decorate lanterns and carry them through the streets to temples on this special day. Also, as fireworks officially become illegal at the end of the Spring Festival, people will blow up their remaining stash, making the streets light up in a noisy blaze.<\/p>\n

In city’s all across China, local parks and historical sights come alive in a sea of colorful lanterns during the last few days of the Spring Festival. I’ve experienced this on the City Wall<\/strong> (\u57ce\u5899 ch\u00e9ng qi\u00e1ng) in Xi’an as well as the Grand View Park in Kunming. These were some of the best experiences I had in my many years living in China and I highly recommend you check it out one day if you get the chance. Here’s a short video I put together showing the Lantern Festival in these two places:<\/p>\n