Chinese New Year's Eve is the day before the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

. The holiday falls between January 21 and February 20 on the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

. Evolving over a long period of time, it is considered a reunion day for every ethnic Chinese

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

. The origin of Chinese New Year's Eve can be traced back to 3500 years ago.

History

Chinese New Year's Eve originated in the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

(1600 – 1046 BC) when the Chinese held sacrificial ceremonies in honor of their gods and ancestors at the end of each year. In the Zhou dynasty (1046 – 256 BC), the phrase "Nian (Year)" appeared and certain cultural practices became popular among Chinese such as sending

door god ''Menshen'', or door gods, are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pair Shenshu () and Yulü () under ...

s and burning

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

. The first dated Chinese New Year's Eve was recorded during the

Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

(475 – 221 BC). In ''

Lüshi Chunqiu The ''Lüshi Chunqiu'' (), also known in English as ''Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals'', is an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239BC under the patronage of late pre-imperial Qin Chancellor Lü Buwei. In the evaluati ...

'', an exorcistic ritual called "Big Nuo" (大傩) was recorded being carried out on the ending day of a year to expel illness in

Qin (state) Qin (, , or ''Ch'in'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. It is traditionally dated to 897 BC. The state of Qin originated from a reconquest of western lands that had previously been lost to the Xirong. Its location at ...

. It was derived from an earlier ritual, Nuo (傩), which is the origin of Chinese New Year's Eve. Later, when Qin unified China and founded the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

, the ritual was continued. During this time, the practice of thoroughly cleaning up houses in the preceding days before the Chinese New Year began to develop. During the

Jin dynasty Jin may refer to: States Jìn 晉 * Jin (Chinese state) (晉國), major state of the Zhou dynasty, existing from the 11th century BC to 376 BC * Jin dynasty (266–420) (晉朝), also known as Liang Jin and Sima Jin * Jin (Later Tang precursor) ...

(266 – 420 AD), people started to do the "Shousui (守岁)" tradition on New Year's Eve. It was recorded by Western Jin's general

Zhou Chu Zhou Chu (; 236?–12 February 297), courtesy name Ziyin (), was a Western Jin-era Chinese general. He was the son of Zhou Fang, a famous Eastern Wu general. He had a reputation for uprightness and integrity and is the protagonist of a famous Ch ...

's article ''Fengtu Ji'' (风土记): "At the ending of a year, people gift and wish each other, calling it Kuisui (馈岁); people invite others with drinks and food, calling it Biesui (别岁); on the new year's eve, people stayed up all night until sunrise, calling it Shousui (守岁)". The article used the word "除夕 (Chuxi)" to indicate New Year's Eve, and the name is still used till this day.

Dates of Chinese New Year's Eve

There is no fixed date for Chinese New Year's Eve, as the holiday falls on the lunar calendar.

Traditions

While many customs exist throughout China, varying by region, most practices still remain in use today.

Gathering

Especially in

southern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...

, people celebrate Chinese New Year's Eve with a big family meal with traditional dishes. Everyone, including children, can drink alcohol. Families make sacrifices to their ancestors: they set out seats for the ancestors, lay out food, and pour them drinks, and burn joss sticks and candles. Family members

kowtow A kowtow () is the act of deep respect shown by prostration, that is, kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground. In East Asian cultural sphere, Sinospheric culture, the kowtow is the highest sign of reverence. It w ...

while the ancestors eat. After dinner, the family members sit together, perhaps talking or playing cards,

Staying up all night

On Chinese New Year's Eve, people stay up late, until midnight or often until dawn. This tradition is called ''shousui'' ().

TV gala

The

Spring Festival Gala The ''CMG New Year's Gala'', formerly known as the ''CCTV New Year's Gala'', also known as the ''Spring Festival Gala'', and commonly abbreviated in Chinese as ''Chunwan'' (), is a Chinese New Year special produced by China Media Group (CMG). It ...

is a TV show which broadcasts live on China's Central Television during Chinese New Year's Eve. The program includes singing, dancing, sketch comedy and cross-talk. It typically takes 6 months to do the preparation. With more and more Chinese families being able to afford television during the 1980s, the spring festival gala has been institutionalized as a crucial practice of Chinese New Year's Eve, as every family member sits in front of the TV, watching the spring festival gala together. The spring festival gala broadcasts until midnight, when everyone in front of the television will say "Happy New Year" at midnight with the hosts. Firecracker String

Burning of bamboo and use of firecrackers

According to ancient Chinese mythology, a devil was believed to be living in the western mountains, who possessed the ability to inflict illness upon those who encountered it. Throughout most of Chinese history, Chinese households burned

to scare said devil out of their house on Chinese New Year's Eve. In contemporary times,

firecrackers A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to ...

have replaced bamboo as the holiday’s primary method of celebration.

Kitchen God

The Chinese

Kitchen God Kitchen gods are mythical beings that represent abstract concepts such as luck or just propel the minor changes of everyday life. Little things that cannot be explained, such as losing small objects like socks in the laundry, are often attribut ...

is regarded as the ambassador of the

Jade Emperor In the Chinese mythology, myths and Chinese folk religion, folk religion of Chinese culture, the Jade Emperor or Yudi is one of the representations of the Primordial Divinity (Tai Di), primordial god. In Taoist theology, he is the assistant of ...

to each Chinese family. It is said that at the midnight of Chinese New Year's Eve, the kitchen god from each family should go to heaven to report the family's deeds during the year. On Chinese New Year, the kitchen god returns to the earth and each family welcomes him by pasting a new picture of him in the kitchen.

Inviting a door god

Door-god - Civil - Project Gutenberg eText 15250

On Chinese New Year's Eve, each family would invite the

by pasting its picture on the front door as a talisman to forbid any devil to enter the family. The most popular door gods are Zhong Kui,

Qin Shubao Qin Qiong (died 638), courtesy name Shubao, better known as Qin Shubao, was a Chinese general who lived in the early Tang dynasty of China. Along with Yuchi Gong, he continues to be worshipped in China as a door god. He is also known by his po ...

and

Yuchi Gong Yuchi Gong () or Yuchi Rong () (585 – 25 December 658), courtesy name Jingde (), also known by his posthumous name Duke Zhongwu of E, was a Chinese military general who lived in the early Tang dynasty. Yuchi Jingde and another general Qin Sh ...

in different areas of China.

Peach wood

On Chinese New Year's Eve, Chinese will make bow of

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...

wood to exorcise the devil that caused plagues, which dates back to the Qin dynasty. The ghost would do no harm to man, but the ancients were afraid of them, so they asked for help to drive the ghost away. The entrance-guarding god was closely related to festivals and peach wood was regarded as a supernatural force with which ghosts could be driven away.

Traditional foods for Chinese New Year's Eve

Family reunion dinner is crucial to Chinese. Chinese New Year's Eve feast allows every family members to sit together. It takes days to do the preparation. Every dish on Chinese New Year's Eve have different meanings. Some of the most popular dishes are: Chinese Vegetable Spring Roll

Spring rolls

Spring roll Spring rolls are rolled appetizers or dim sum commonly found in Chinese, Vietnamese and Southeast Asian cuisines. The kind of wrapper, fillings, and cooking technique used, as well as the name, vary considerably depending on the region's cu ...

s are a traditional dish in parts of China. People make the thin dough wrappers in the cylindrical-shaped rolls and fill them with vegetables, meat, or something sweet, then fried the spring rolls to give them a golden-yellow color.

Dumplings

The dumpling is a traditional food to eat in north China on Chinese New Year's Eve while in southern China very few people serve dumplings as Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. Minced meat (pork, shrimp, chicken, beef.etc.) and vegetables are wrapped in the elastic dough skin. Boiling, steaming, frying are the most common ways to cook dumplings in China.

Glutinous rice cake

Glutinous Rice Cake is called "

niangao ''Nian gao'' (), sometimes translated as year cake or New Year cake or Chinese New Year's cake, is a food prepared from glutinous rice flour and consumed in Chinese cuisine. It is also simply known as "rice cake". While it can be eaten all year ...

" in Mandarin. The sound of Nian Gao has a good meaning: getting higher year by year. Glutinous Rice Cake is made of sticky rice, sugar, chestnuts, lotus leaves. It is a common dish which appeared in the southern Chinese families' Chinese New Year Eve reunion dinner.

Good fortune fruit

Tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in colour, that is considered either a variety of the mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), or a closely related species, under the name ''Citrus tangerina'', or yet as a hybrid (''Citr ...

s, oranges and

pomelo The pomelo ( ; or pummelo, ''Citrus maxima''), also known as a shaddock, is the largest citrus fruit. It is an ancestor of several cultivated citrus species, including the bitter orange and the grapefruit. It is a natural, non-hybrid citrus fr ...

s are certain fruits that been eaten on Chinese New Year's Eve. Chinese believe that eating these fruits on Chinese New Year's Eve can bring fortune as these fruits have round shape, golden colour, lucky sounds when spoken which symbolise fullness and wealth.

Longevity noodles

Longevity noodles represents Chinese' wish for longevity. The length and preparation of longevity noodles are the symbolic of eater's life. Longevity noodles are longer than normal noodles, usually fried or boiled and served in the bowl.

Money gifts and money trees

Chinese will give children money gifts as Chinese new year gift on Chinese New Year's Eve. They usually put money in red pockets and hide under their children's pillows. In ancient times, Chinese money was the round copper coin with a square hole in the middle. adults will thread the coins with colourful thread to make a shape of dragon and then they will put the money beside their children's beds while their children are asleep. this customs, which is very similar to Christmas gifts in west. A money tree is a legendary tree which will shed coins when shaken. On Chinese New Year's Eve, Chinese will cut some pine branches and put the branches in vase. Then they will tie copper coins, shoe-shaped gold or silver and pomegranate flowers to the tree, which is very similar to the

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

in western countries.

Similar traditions in other part of Asia

Philippines

Chinese New Year's Eve in Philippines is called Bisperas ng Bagong Taon in Tagalog. On Chinese New Year's Eve, all doors including cupboards, drawers, cabinets, windows must be left wide open to allow good luck to enter. Chinese Filipinos do not eat fish and chicken on Chinese New Year's Eve as these animals scrounge for food and Chinese Filipinos do not want to scrounge for food in the upcoming year. They prepare twelve round fruits (oranges, grapes, clementines, cantaloupe etc.) on Chinese New Year's Eve and each fruit represents a month. Offering_of_the_First_Incense_2

In 2012, Chinese New Year was included as a public regular non-working holiday in the Philippines. In 2024,

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

celebrates the Spring Festival of the

Wooden Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

, including the 430th anniversary of Manila

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

featuring the "Manila Chinatown Solidarity Float Parade" along Manila Central Post Office in Lawton, Ermita and

Jones Bridge The William A. Jones Memorial Bridge, commonly known as the Jones Bridge, is an arched girder bridge that spans the Pasig River in Manila, Philippines. It is named after the United States United States House of Representatives, legislator Willia ...

led by Ambassador Huang Xilian with Mr. & Ms. Chinatown Philippines 2023 winners. It was preceded by Chinese New Year's Eve, with the "First

incense offering The incense offering ( ) in Judaism was related to perfumed offerings on the altar of incense in the time of the Tabernacle and the First and Second Temple period, and was an important component of priestly liturgy in the Temple in Jerusalem. I ...

" at

Binondo Church The Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, also as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish and commonly known as Binondo Church, is located in the district of Binondo, Manila fronting Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz, in the Philippin ...

, a Taoism prayer ritual with Joss sticks, including

Chinese ancestor worship Chinese ancestor veneration, also called Chinese ancestor worship, is an aspect of the Chinese traditional religion which revolves around the ritual celebration of the deified ancestors and tutelary deities of people with the same surname or ...

Martyr Saints of China The Martyr Saints of China ( zh, t=中華殉道聖人, s=中华殉道圣人, first=t, p=Zhōnghuá xùndào shèngrén), or Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, are 120 saints of the Catholic Church. The 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Wester ...

altars in

Binondo Binondo (; ) is a district in Manila and is referred to as the city's Chinatown. Its influence extends beyond to the places of Quiapo, Manila, Quiapo, Santa Cruz, Manila, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, Manila, San Nicolas and Tondo, Manila, Tondo. ...

Chinese Parish Church. A midnight 2-minute pyro-musical fireworks was witnessed by 1.5 million at the Chinese-Filipino Friendship Bridge.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese New Year's Eve Chinese New Year Festivals in Korea Festivals in Vietnam Lunar observation Observances set by the Chinese calendar Winter in China Festivals in China