Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)春節

What it is

A sixth century record says people rose at cockcrow and burned bamboo in the yard, its loud cracks driving away evil spirits. The family then greeted each other and drank spiced wine, starting with the youngest.

The door gods are already there too: Shen Tu on the left and Yu Lei on the right.

The last days of the old year

In Qing Beijing the holiday started with the government itself. Between the 19th and 22nd of the twelfth month, the date chosen by the Imperial Observatory, offices sealed their official seals and stopped work, and the clerks went out to celebrate.

On the 23rd, households made offerings to the Kitchen God of sweets, with clear water and fodder for his horse. They then burned his picture, to welcome him back on New Year’s Eve. So many firecrackers went off that the day was called the little new year.

Scribes set up under shop eaves to write spring couplets, the descendants of the old peach-wood charms. After the Kitchen God’s day they went up on door after door, on red paper. The door gods went up too. The author, Dun Chong, notes that some call them Shen Tu and Yu Lei and others Qin Qiong and Yuchi Jingde, and says all of that is wrong: just call them door gods.

New Year’s Eve

On New Year’s Eve, people called on relatives to say goodbye to the old year, and families bowed to their elders. A long table went up in the courtyard, stacked with fruit, steamed buns, vegetables and new year cake.

After dusk the whole family sat together to see the year out, among wine, lamps and candles, while women and children played dice and cards. Around midnight the firecrackers grew louder, and the household set out incense to welcome the gods down to earth.

Children received ya sui qian, money for the turn of the year. It was strung on coloured cord in the shape of a Loong and laid at the foot of the bed. Elders also simply gave it to children as a gift, and the red envelope of today carries on this custom.

The first days of the year

New Year’s Day was for visits. Close friends came in, and others left a card. Dun Chong says that rich and poor alike ate boiled dumplings of white flour, and that wealthy homes hid gold or a gem inside one. Whoever found it would be lucky all year.

On the second day, Beijing honoured the god of wealth with firecrackers day and night. The fifth was called Po Wu, the end of the holiday rules: until then, people did not cook fresh rice and women did not go out. On the sixth, visits began again, married daughters came home, and shops slowly opened.

The seventh is Ren Ri, the Day of People. An old book gives each of the first eight days to one creature, ending with grain, and if the seventh is clear, people will thrive.

Eight centuries earlier

The Song capital Kaifeng marked the day differently. A book from the twelfth century says the city allowed three days of guan pu, games of chance for goods, and that streets filled with stalls and music. Even the poor put on clean clothes and raised a cup with their neighbours.

Why the youngest drinks first

The oldest record has a charming detail. On New Year’s Day the family drank spiced wine in turn, starting with the youngest. When someone asked why, the scholar Dong Xun answered that the young gain a year, so they are toasted first, while the old lose one, so they drink last.

What about New Year taboos?

Many lists of taboos circulate today, such as not sweeping or not washing your hair. We did not find these in the three books used here, so we do not repeat them. The two rules above about rice and women going out are from old Beijing, and they describe that time and place.

Coming dates

Worked out from the lunar calendar in China time.

1. 2026Tue 17 February
2. 2027Sat 6 February
3. 2028Wed 26 January
4. 2029Tue 13 February
5. 2030Sun 3 February