- Year of the Dragon
Chinese New Year is the most important Chinese holiday. It runs over the course of 15 days which is spent visiting and paying respect to your elders, collecting ‘lai see’ which are red packets with money inside to represent good luck and wealth. In addition to lai see, small gifts of food and sweets are given when visiting family and friends; usually fruits or cakes, i.e. small mandarin orange trees which symbolise wealth (gold).
The period around CNY is also the period of the largest human migration where migrant Chinese workers, overseas Chinese travel home to have reunion dinners with their families.
Another important tradition is the wearing of red. According to tales and legends, in a remote Chinese village the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called ‘Nian’. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors. But one day people saw that the Nian was scared away instead by a little child wearing the colour red. The villagers then began to hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors at the start of the New Year. People would also use firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again.
Any child born this year will be a Water Dragon. If you were born in 1904, 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 200o you are a Dragon. Find our what it means to be born in the Year of the Dragon here.