Chinese New Year: Past

So what is Chinese New Year and what's the fuss all about?

Chinese New Year is supposedly the time for celebration. The day not only marked the start of the lunar calendar, it is also, according to the Chinese folklore, the day where a monstrous beast which comes out at night every year to devour children was successfully vanquished.

The beast, conveniently dubbed "nian shou", which literally means Annual Monster, was chased away using firecrackers.

A red packet, known as "ya sui qian", is given to children to congratulate them for making it through the year. Why red? Because the color red is a symbol of good luck. So you could say that it kinda translates to: "Congratulations for not getting eaten alive, you lucky bastard!"

As a thank-you for the red packets the adults showered them with, the children will in turn 'bless' the adult with well-wishes. Think of it as something like a spell, when a kid wishes you well, everything will be smooth flowing for the rest of the year. I'm not sure how many of those came true but more and more adults caught on and soon, everybody's doing it every year.

And so, it became a tradition which lasted until today.



To be continued...


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