Best wishes for the Year of the Dragon
The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West.
The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.
Spring Festival Traditions
Spring Cleaning
“Dust” is homophonic with “chen” in Chinese, which means old and past. In this way, “sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. Chinese People believe that in order to receive the new luck, you have to swipe the bad luck. All the cleaning has to be done before the end of New Year’s Eve, that’s what Chinese people always called “Ci Jiu Ying Xin”: saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
Spring Couplet
“The Spring Couplet”, also called “couplet” and “a pair of antithetical phrases”, is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate. Whether the family is rich or poor, educated or ignorant, everyone must put on the Spring Couplet to symbolize the hopes for the coming new year.
Family Reunion Dinner
The Spring Festival is a time for the Chinese to have family reunion, on Chinese New Year’s Eve (Chu Xi), the whole family must sit at the table to eat the New Year’s Supper together. This meal is usually made from scratch with the entire family working together, and this meal is usually the most sumptuous meal of the year. In the New Year’s Supper, it is essential that some dishes contain the family wishes for the New Year.
Red packet/ Lucky Money
Children love Spring Festival because they can receive red packet! A red packet is simply a red envelope with lucky money in it, which symbolizes luck and wealth. In traditional Chinese cultural, red is considered a lucky color, red packet is believed to ward off evial spirits and to bring good fortune to the receiver. Traditionally, older generations give the red packet to the younger generation. Nowadays, this practice extends to close friends, neighbors, and even some companies give away year- end bonus in the red packets.
During the Spring Festival, we will receive blessings from family, friends, and even strangers.
AOTELEC (lithium ion battery equipment manufacturer) wishes:
At New Year and awlays, may peace and love fill your heart, beauty fill your world, and contentment and joy fill your days.
