Discovering Chinese New Year Traditions and Chinese Calligraphy
The end of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations is marked by the Lantern Festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, which is Friday 26 February this year. Wanting to learn more about the Chinese traditions, I joined an online event ‘Discovering Chinese New Year Traditions’ hosted by The Business Confucius Institute at the University of Leeds on Zoom, and I had one of the most insightful and enlivening mornings.
Quite a number of people participated in the live event from different parts of the UK, and the world; almost everyone was wearing red as it symbolizes good fortune and joy in Chinese culture. In the first session, the speaker introduced various Chinese New Year traditions such as putting up the new Spring Couplets on the doors, eating reunion dinner, watching New Year Gala, giving money in red envelops (Hong Bao), setting off firecrackers and many more. Celebrations last up to sixteen days (from Chinese New Year’s Eve to the Lantern Festival) and the preparations start seven days before Chinese New Year’s Eve.
I found out some interesting dos and don’ts during Chinese New Year celebrations. For example, did you know that sweeping the house during the Chinese New Year should be avoided? While cleaning the house before the Chinese New Year symbolizes sweeping out any misfortune or traces of bad luck, any act of sweeping on the first day of the New Year is considered chasing the wealth and fortune away. Luckily, I did not do any sweeping on that day.
The following session is the introduction to Chinese characters and calligraphy. The speaker helped the participants identify various types of Chinese calligraphy, and we even had a short quiz on that. Then, we learned how to write Chinese characters properly and beautifully with a calligraphy brush. It was an interactive session and everyone actively participated in the activity.
The last part of the event is the Chinese New Year cuisine. Everyone was so excited as they took turns sharing their favourite Chinese dishes. As a foodie, I was surprised to learn that each dish served in the reunion dinner has its own meaning. For instance, the traditional whole fish dish symbolizes having surplus and fortune, and the dumplings are associated with wealth. The speaker also kindly provided a quick guide on how to wrap dumplings as well.
I enjoyed this event very much as it was not only informative but also engaging. It was fun to learn new things and meet people who are very passionate about Chinese culture. I also found out that the University has a whole webpage dedicated to Chinese culture, so please do not forget to check it out if you are interested.