Click to see Why Chinese New Year Must Have Firecrackers. Christmas in the West generally sees no fireworks, although New Year's Eve does. Even then, however, the focus is on aesthetically pleasing fireworks in the West, whereas Chinese New Year fireworks are aiming to be as loud as possible rather than as beautiful as possible. 4. Why Doesn't Chinese New Year Fall on New Year's Day? Chinese New Year is never on January 1. Chinese have a different traditional date for New Year. Chinese New Year's date is determined by the Chinese lunar calendar, which is always 21–51 days behind the corresponding Gregorian (international) calendar date. Christmas is an important Christian holiday honoring the birth of Jesus Christ, while Chinese New Year is based on a historic story of Nian (“year” in Chinese), a mythical monster that terrorized villages and eat livestock and children. While Chinese New Year signals the start of the new lunar year, Christmas once fell on the exact date of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and a time traditionally marking the "rebirth" of the sun. Lights. Both Chinese New Year and Christmas dazzle with plenty of lights in decorations and rituals. The highlight of the celebration is Chinese New Year's Eve, when families gather for a reunion feast of symbolic foods, including dumplings shaped like ancient Chinese gold ingots that represent wealth, and fish, which in Chinese is a homonym of "abundance." The fish must be only partially eaten because the leftovers signify continuing prosperity. In the context of the Chinese zodiac, this includes more than 1.7 billion (or about 20% of the world population) people across six countries – China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Singapore, and Vietnam – as well as the diaspora in other parts of Southeast Asia and Australia who believe to varying degrees. The Chinese are known for using many different flowers for the Chinese New Year Festival, such as pussy willows, plum blossoms, water lilies, bamboo, and so forth. For example, the reason for using pussy willows for the Chinese New Year is “In Cantonese, “Yin Liu” sounds like “Yin Lou” which is similar to “Yin Liang” (money). The phrase "a new year, a fresh start" embodies the self-encouragement of a nation at every new beginning. This festival, which carries the profound heritage of the Chinese nation, has been imbued To this day, the Lunar New Year celebration is centered around removing bad luck and welcoming all that is good and prosperous. Red is considered an auspicious color to ring in the new year. In many Asian cultures, the color symbolizes good fortune and joy. Among China’s traditional holidays and celebrations, none ranks higher in importance than the Lunar New Year (農曆新年). Also known as the Spring Festival (春節), or simply Chinese New The Tang Dynasty period (618-907 AD) allows a change of paradigm in the Spring Festival celebration and the main function of the festival has also shifted.The festival was no longer perceived as a sacred ritual for the gods—which was the norm established for thousands of years—, and now the New Year was celebrated mainly as entertainment for both nobles and commoners. New Years is a day that celebrates the end of a calendar year and the start of a new one. The date on which New Years is celebrated differs for every culture and religion, as they all follow their own calendars. For example, Chinese New Year’s is celebrated some time in March; while Hindu New Year is celebrated in October, and so forth. In terms of history, China created Chinese new year with their 12 zodiac signs and new year calendar and other SE countries adopted these principles throughout the decades of history these countries have with China. So it should be called Chinese new year. New year is global and universal, while christmas is religious holiday, just like ramadan. It is important for believers and meh for everyone else. And we've got the fun parts of it, such as tree decorations and gifts, and transfered these to the new year. Just a better layout imo. The festive season is synonymous with joy, togetherness, and the art of gifting. In Singapore, where traditions blend seamlessly with modernity, choosing the perfect present can feel daunting. This year, why not embrace the elegance and thoughtfulness of premium Christmas hampers? These curated collections of gourmet treats, fine wines, and festive indulgences are more than [] Thanksgiving dinner is superior, because it is all about the dinner. Those who cook haul out their best recipes. Christmas dinner - not really an afterthought, but less about the food. New Year’s dinner - traditionally prime rib in my family - is better than Christmas dinner. Despite some differences, many Lunar New Year celebrations around the world, whether at the same time as Chinese New Year or not, still do have many striking similarities, largely due to Chinese New Year's massive worldwide influence through the ages. As you can tell, Chinese New Year is filled with colorful traditions and customs. When asked to describe what Chinese New Year is like, one could say that it’s a mashup of the U.S holidays of Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and Thanksgiving. And just like Thanksgiving, there are a lot of traditional foods that are eaten during Chinese New Year.
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