A Festival For the Senses
By Lyndsey Biddle
Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved
There is red everywhere; hanging from rooftops, on the walls, on the ground. And earsplitting blasts night and day, lights shooting across the sky, explosions. No, I am not describing a war scene; these are the sights and sounds of the Chinese Spring Festival, or Chun Jie as it is called in Chinese.
Spring Festival occurs according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar and usually falls towards the end of January or early February. The Spring Festival starts a week prior to the well-known Chinese New Year. The Chinese hold a number of interesting beliefs about this time of year and uphold many unique New Year traditions.
I lived and worked in the city of Tianjin, just a short train ride south of Beijing, for three years. While experiencing just one Chinese New Year is enough for most foreigners, I had the pleasure of taking part in three. And I think my ears are still ringing these many years later from the firecrackers that blasted my eardrums for days on end.
That is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the Spring Festival and New Year, the incessant blasts, night and day. China is, after all, the birthplace of fireworks and firecrackers, so why not go all out, right? The reason for all the firecrackers is primarily to ward off evil spirits who try to make their way to Earth during the New Year. During the Chinese New Year you can find makeshift stands selling an incredible variety of fireworks including the kind that are illegal in the West and only set off during official events far far away from the crowd. I remember seeing young children purchasing and setting off these industrial sized fireworks and it still gives me the chills. My neighbors at the time were extremely diligent in scaring off the evil spirits because they set off the loudest firecrackers I have ever heard just ousted my apartment at all hours of the day for two weeks straight. Needless to say, I was a bit sleep deprived.
The other thing that stands out during the Spring Festival is the red color everywhere. Red is considered a lucky color and gold represents wealth, so in every home and in every street there are red paper decorations, lanterns, and the like. One popular decoration is the Fu sign. Fu means luck and prosperity. The Chinese will place the sign up-side-down on the wall in hopes of brining luck down into their house.
There are countless other Chinese New Year traditions including the giving of HongBao which are red envelopes filled with money that are given to children. Families will prepare NianGao, a sweet cake, which is made to appease the Kitchen God ZaoWang who comes to each family during the New Year to make a report on the family. Most importantly though, Spring Festival and Chinese New Year are a time for families to come together and catch up. In today’s modern China, this is for many Chinese the only time to return home and be with their family.
Lyndsey writes for Briefcase Direct, a website that offers luxury briefcases direct from the manufacturer.
Lyndsey currently lives in Kolkata, India.
