What Decorations Do People Put Around the House for Chinese New Year?
What some Westerners know about Chinese New Year is limited to dramatic "dragon dances" winding down streets and Chinese zodiac animals on restaurant menus. Following a lunar calendar, Chinese New Year typically falls between January 21 and February 19, depending on the new moon's appearance. Celebrations end 15 days later with the Lantern Festival. Before houses are decorated, they are cleaned, symbolic of leaving the past behind and readiness for welcoming in the new. Does this Spark an idea?
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The Color Red
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The color red is very important in Chinese culture, and particularly during Chinese New Year's celebrations. People both wear and decorate their homes in great amounts of red, a tradition connected to the origin of Chinese New Year. According to legend, an immortal god told villagers, who were being terrorized by a beast named Nian, to put red paper decorations on their windows and doors at the beginning of each new year because the color scared Nian. Today, in traditional Chinese homes, stores and restaurants, many red items, such as banners, lanterns, cushions, flowers and tableware, are in displayed for the New Year holiday.
Flowers
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During Chinese New Year, which is also called the Spring Festival, traditional homes are decorated with vases of spring flowers, particularly those with buds just beginning to bloom. Favorite flowers include pussy willow, azalea, peony and water lily or narcissus, according to the University of Victoria. New blooms herald the fruits to come and symbolize rebirth, new growth and wealth. If a plant blooms on New Year's Day, it means the home will see a year of prosperity. Some arrangements also use plum blossoms, which are symbolic of reliability and courage.
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Fruit and Candy
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Platters of oranges and tangerines, which individually symbolize wealth and good fortune, are placed on tables as symbols for happiness, and the fruits given to visiting friends and family to indicate the relationships are lasting. Trays with eight foods representing various types of good fortune are also placed on tables. The foods include candied melons, symbolizing growth and good health; dyed red melon seeds, symbolizing joy, happiness, truth and sincerity; lychee nuts, for strong family relationships; and kumquats, which are gold and symbolize prosperity, according to the University of Victoria.
Door and Wall Hangings
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Spring couplets express wishes for good fortune. Spring, or red, couplets are large vertical banners displayed in pairs at the sides of doors or on walls. The couplets are short poems written in traditional Chinese that wish good fortune and wealth, the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology explains. They are frequently created by brushes dipped in black ink and painted on gold-flecked, red paper. A third banner hung above a door sums up the couplet's meaning.
In Chinese, the word "fook" means luck, and, for New Year, the word is painted on diamond-shaped pieces of red paper and displayed on doors and windows. If the hanging is upside down, that indicates "luck has arrived," according to author Tricia Brown, in her book "Chinese New Year."
Papercut Designs
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Papercut designs are illustrations cut from red sheets of paper and are either handmade or purchased. The sometimes-intricate illustrations can be of nearly any subject, such as Chinese words of good fortune, animals, flowers or scenes from popular stories, but their themes tend to center on good luck and protection from evil. They also decorate windows and doors.
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References
- Utah State University College of Education TeacherLINK; Chinese New Year; Natalie Walker
- Rutgers, State University of New Jersey; School of Information and Communication; Tradtional Chinese Festivals; Traditional Activities -- House Cleaning and Decoration; December 1998
- University of Victoria Education; Chinese New Year Decorations; Wolff-Michael Roth
- "Chinese New Year"; T. Brown, et al.; November 1997
- Arizona State University ArtsWork: Holidays -- Chinese New Year
- Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology; "Chinese Folk Art, Festivals and Symbolism in Everyday Life"; N. Mullen, et al; 2005
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
