The World Celebrates The Chinese New Year!

The World Celebrates The Chinese New Year!

There are only a few days left until all Chinese people welcome the New Year of the Monkey!

The Chinese New year is also known as the Spring Festival and this year we will welcome it on February 8th. Firecrackers, decorations, lanterns, red envelopes, family reunion, dragon dance… 15 days full of excitement, family gatherings combined with lots of symbols, giving meaning to the celebrations. Over the years Chinese have created an amazing atmosphere, making sure that the each coming year is going to bring even more prosperity, luck and happiness! So, let's see what this coming year of the Monkey will bring!

What Christmas is for the westerners, Spring Festival is for the Chinese people across the globe. Because in the recent years the Chinese New Year became popular all over the world we look more closely in the real meaning behind it. What all these symbols are significant for and how should we interpret them?

Chinese New Year celebrations start on the 23rd day of 12th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. Chunjie (春节), translated as Spring Festival speaks for itself what is the background of this holiday. Back in time Chinese society was mainly agricultural, and according to China's traditional solar calendar, the first Chinese month is called “start of Spring”. During the Spring Festival, Chinese traditionally celebrate the start of a new year of farm work and wish for a good harvest. This has now evolved to celebrating the start of a new business year, wishing for profits and success.

An ancient legend is telling the story about a monster called “Nian”(年- year). On the eve of every New Year it would come out to eat children and livestock. According to the legend the monster was afraid of red color and loud sounds. Therefore, people had begun to decorate their houses in red and set off firecrackers to expel it.

Today every street, building and house, where Chinese new year is celebrated is decorated in red. Red lanterns hang in the streets. Vertical red stripes (or “duilian”) placed parallel to one another on each side of a door is one of the symbols that Chinese New year can't get along without. Poetic and traditional Chinese sayings are written on them, representing the wishes and expectations that Chinese people have for the new year. Banks and official buildings are all decorated in red New Year pictures depicting images of prosperity and fortune. That's right, red is the main color for the festival and is believed to be an auspicious color.

But beside all the symbols, what do exactly Chinese people do to welcome the New Year? Family reunion. The most important part of the festival. It's not a coincidence that exactly at this time of the year some 3 billion trips by public transport in China are made, and 10% of the population in Beijing in Shanghai is departing. Because first of all, Chinese New Year is a time for families to be together. Wherever they are, people come home to celebrate the festival with their relatives.

The New Year's eve dinner is called “reunion dinner”, and is believed to be the most important meal of the year. Big families of several generations sit around round tables and enjoy the food and time together. Similarly to Christmas, people exchange gifts during the Spring Festival. The most common gifts are red envelopes. Red envelopes have money in, and are used with the hope of bringing good luck, blessing and happiness.

So what can we learn and implement from the Spring Festival, even if we have never celebrated Chinese New Year before?

Find time to spend some meaningful and relaxing time with your family;
Clean your home, so you can free space for the luck and fortune to come by;
Surround yourself with symbols and colors that make you feel happy and excited;
Prepare yourself for success, prosperity and money, and they will come to you!
This is how the Chinese start each year – expecting only the best each coming year may offer them. The perfect new beginning! Happy New Year of the Monkey, dear Chinese members and friends! OneCoin wishes you lots of happiness, best of luck, success and prosperity!