“Gung Hay Fat Choy” means “Best wishes and have a prosperous and good year.” It is the greeting many people will give one another on Chinese New Year, February 7 this year, the Year of the Rat.
The Chinese Lunar Calendar names each of the 12 years after an animal: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, or boar. One legend says Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from Earth. Only 12 came to bid him farewell, and as a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived.
The Chinese Lunar New Year is the longest chronological record in history, dating from 2600 BCE, when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the zodiac. Like the Western calendar, The Chinese Lunar Calendar is yearly, with the start of the lunar year based on the cycles of the moon. Because the moon’s cycle is shorter than a Western calendar month, the beginning of the year can fall anywhere between late January and mid-February. A complete cycle—60 years—is made up of five cycles of 12 years.
Chinese New Year is a celebrated event. A huge clean-up gets underway days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom to sweep away any traces of bad luck. The doors and windows are then decorated with paper cutouts and couplets with themes like happiness, wealth, and longevity printed on them.
The eve of the New Year is perhaps the most exciting part of the event. Traditions and rituals are carefully observed in everything from food to clothing. Dinner is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, signifying different good wishes. Delicacies include prawns for liveliness and happiness, dried oysters for all things good, raw fish salad to bring good luck and prosperity. Fai-hai, an edible hair-like seaweed, is said to bring prosperity, and dumplings boiled in water signifies a good wish for a family. Many people wear red to ward off evil spirits, but not black and white, which are associated with mourning. After dinner, families stay up playing cards and board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the occasion. At midnight fireworks light up the sky.
On the day itself an ancient custom called Hong Bao, meaning Red Packet, takes place. Married couples give children and unmarried adults money in red envelopes. Then the family goes door to door giving greetings, first to their relatives and then to their neighbors. Like the Western saying, “Let bygones be bygones,” at Chinese New Year, grudges are cast aside.
The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns, a celebration with singing, dancing, and lantern shows.
Celebrations of the Chinese New Year vary, but the underlying message is one of peace and happiness for family members and friends.
Sen Lin, owner of China Fortune, echoed this sentiment. “Normally on New Year’s Eve, we have a family reunion and gather for a big dinner. It’s like Thanksgiving here. No matter where you are or what state you live in, we all come together,” he said. Lin’s parents and relatives live nearby, so about 15 people will gather to celebrate the event.
“In Chinese, there is a word nian, and the Chinese believe nian is the beast. We try to get rid of the nian by lighting firecrackers and fireworks to scare the evil away,” said Lin. The Chinese word for year is based on the arrival of this beast. A phrase for celebrating Chinese New Year uo nian, means the passing of the beast. The Chinese traditions of decorating in red, burning firecrackers and performing the lion dance with loud drums and gongs are all customs practiced to scare the beast away.
“About 10 days before Chinese New Year comes we have to clean the whole house and wash away the clutter,” he said.
“We don’t have a big Chinese population here, so we always celebrate at the restaurant by having a big buffet with our special items. The buffet will include jumbo shrimp, scallops, and Peking Duck, and we will change the items throughout the evening.” Lin said China Fortune is holding a Chinese New Year buffet February 7–9 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.
Robert Chen, owner of Shu Chen’s in downtown Charles Town, is looking forward to Chinese New Year. The restaurant will also be holding a special celebration in honor of Chinese New Year from 5–9:30 pm, February 7. A special dinner will be offered. Chen said it is customary in China to give or receive “lucky money,” and patrons will be invited to participate in the fun. “The parents give the lucky money to the kids. If they are old enough to be working, the kids give to their parents,” Chen explained.
The Chen family will continue their celebration after the restaurant is closed. “Chinese people all have a dinner together in the late evening and we have a hot pot, which is a small stove with a pot of soup in the middle. We call that ‘around the stove,’” he said. “At midnight, we say ‘Happy New Year’ to each other and give lucky money.”
Chen said in China everything would be closed the next day so they could go and visit other families to wish them a happy New Year and sit down to share tea, candy, or a meal together. “Over here, we don’t do that. We have a party here, have a dinner together. The second day we’re still open for business.”
