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= History of the Chinese New Year =



Many of the origins of the Chinese New Year festival are thousand of years old and are created in legends, but it is somewhat unclear when exactly the beginning of the year was celebrated before the Qin Dynasty. A small scale Spring Festival has been celebrated since as early as of the time of the legendary sage-emperors, Yao and Shun. The Chinese New Year, also called a Spring Festival since the 20th century, is considered to be the most important social and economic holiday in China. The holiday of the Chinese New Year was originally based off of the lunar-solar Chinese calendar and it was a time to honor household deities, heavenly deities, along with Chinese ancestors. The Western calendar came about in 1912 and the Chinese have since celebrated New Year’s Day on January 1st each year. The country of China celebrates the traditional Chinese New Year, but refers to it by, “the Spring Festival,” as it is known now. As time went on, younger generations have began to use the holiday of the Chinese New Year to have a relaxation from work instead of an opportunity to renew family ties. The Chinese New Year is based off of the Ancient Chinese calendar, which is used as a religious, dynastic, and social guide. This calendar is known to have existed as early as the 14th century. When the emperors switched and held the power, they changed the structure of the calendar according to region. The Ancient Chinese Calendar was based according to the lunar phases, including the solar solstices and equinoxes. The Chinese use the signs of Yin and Yang, which also took part in the calendar as well as the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese zodiac consists of the cycle of the twelve stations or “signs” across the path of the sun through the cosmos. Each New Year is marked by the use of the twelve zodiac animals, which include the rat, ox, tiger, monkey, rooster, dog, pic, rabbit, snake, dragon, horse, and sheep. The period of the Chinese New Year period begins in the middle of the 12th month and continues until the middle of the first month of the New Year, which is around the time of the waxing of the full moon. Traditionally, the New Year period was divided into New Year’s Eve and the first days of the New Year. The Chinese New Year is known as a celebration that draws attention to the household. Many families focus on the household and their families, rather than businesses and work. With the end of a year, families cleaned to rid themselves of “huiqi,” which is known as inauspicious breaths, which could have been collected during the past year. Cleaning in this manner was important because it was meant to appease the gods who would be coming down from heaven to make inspections of people and their households. Sacrifices were offered to gods and ancestors, including food and paper icons. Scrolls were used that contained lucky messages on the household gates and people set off firecrackers to frighten evil spirits. Elders gave money to the local children and families feasted with large meals. Many of the meals included the families joining around their tables on New Year’s Eve for a meal that had fish as the last course. Fish was used as the last course because it was used as a symbol of abundance and was not meant to be eaten. During the first five days of the New Year, people ate long noodles to symbolize long life and on the 15th and final day of the New Year, they ate round dumplings shaped like the full moon to symbolize the family unit and perfection.