The Spring Festival known in the West as Chinese New Year is the most heartfelt holiday in China, which marks the transition from the old year to the new one according to the traditional Chinese calendar, thus closing the year of the dog to start the year of the pig
To us Westerners it might seem bizarre that the Spring Festival ChūnJié 春节, also called Chinese New Year Zhōngguó xīnnián 中国 新年, falls when spring has not yet arrived and New Year's Eve has already passed, this is because the traditional festivities in China are based on the lunigular luncheon Chinese agricultural calendar, in which the months begin at each new moon and the Spring Festival coincides with the second nuvilunio after the winter solstice, which this year falls on February 5th. For 15 days the Chinese, scattered throughout the country, are reunited with their loved ones to celebrate the new year in company. The festivities end with the Lantern Festival and as always food, legends and superstitions are king, let's discover them together.
Customs and superstitions in the home and kitchen
The Red, which has always been a symbol of luck and joy during the Chinese New Year, as in other celebrations or happy celebrations such as weddings, is strictly forbidden during funerals. On the occasion of the Spring Festival, i spring couplets chūnlián 春联, strips of red paper on which to write good words to hang on the door to drive away evil spirits.
Another recurring practice sees the posting of the character fú 福 of luck upside down, as the expression "fortune upside down" fú gives the 福 倒 了 is homophona of "arrives the fortune" fú giveso the 福 到 了, where to change it is the first radical of the second character. Then before the arrival of the new year it is a good thing to dedicate yourself to the house cleaning, a symbolic custom that would serve to wipe out bad luck and all that has remained of the past year. During the two weeks of partying, the Chinese go to find relatives and friends for the traditional wish visit bàinián 拜年 and on this occasion the children are given the typical ones red envelopes hóngbāo 红包, containing money and messages of affection.
As for the customs in the kitchen, on the eve of New Year's Eve for the dinner are scheduled 12 courses to symbolize the 12 months of the year, then each area of China has its typical dishes, but certainly can not miss the citrus fruits, whose round shape recalls the idea of fullness, abundance and prosperity, such as mandarins and usually eight are served, as eight is considered the most fortunate number in China. The are also inevitable ravioli Chinese jiaozi, stuffed with meat, fish and vegetables, which according to the type of cooking are different in ravioli in broth shuǐjiǎo 水饺, steamed zhēngjiǎo 蒸饺, sautéed on the plate guōtiē 锅贴 and those stuffed with broth i xiǎolóngbāo 小笼 包.
We then move on to spaghetti lāmiàn 拉面 symbol of long life, the longer they are and the longer will be the longevity, so it is forbidden to cut them otherwise it would mean to shorten life. Also steamed sandwiches manifest on the rich tables of the eve, the classic mántou 馒头 and the stuffed bāozi 包子 that we can now find both open and closed stuffings. The inevitable is the fish, served in abundance, to respect the said niánnián yǒuyú 年年 有余, or "throughout the year there is superabundance", (where yú 余, superabundance is homophone of yú 鱼 fish). Moving on to the dessert we have the glutinous rice cakes niángāo 年糕, filled with lotus seeds, peanuts and goji berries. At the alcohol level, it goes from high levels with the traditional Chinese liqueur báijiǔ 白酒, to drink all in one breath, loudly exclaiming gānbēi 干杯.
According to the legend …
One lived in the depths of the abysses monster extremely scary that he loved to sleep, he rested in fact 365 days a year, but one year he woke up and for this he was called Nian 年 which in Chinese means year. Every year, on the eve of New Year's Eve, the monster woke up and was very hungry and wandered around the neighboring countries in search of food, eating whatever he found on his path and everyone began to fear his meeting. On the eve of the next New Year the villagers organized themselves to hide in remote mountain places to escape his clutches, all except one old woman who remained to take care of her sick husband.
On the eve of the eve, while the old lady was preparing the jiǎozi r ravioli , as tradition had it, one appeared at his door beggar, all unkempt and with the worn and dirty clothes that bent over his cane asked the lady something to eat and although i jiaozi that he was cooking they were few and he handed him a bowl. When the beggar finished eating, he asked about the deserted village and the old woman explained to him the arrival of the monster Nian. The beggar reassured her by telling her that the sky would protect them and urged her to get him red paper and cloth that he attached to the door and with which he surrounded the house.
When the darkness came down, a gigantic wave rose from the sea and Nian came out and loudly began to emit scary cries that came closer and closer, arrived in front of the old woman's house the monster found the beggar waiting for him, it seemed a little 'frail and unappetizing but as there was no soul alive in the village he thought he could start with him, but just when Nian tried to eat it the beggar magically magically fired a fire with his stick that produced the sound of crackles of firecrackers. The monster, surprised by the deafening noise, slammed its head into the door with its red couplet hanging, and as soon as it saw the red color its eyes began to burn and gave it to the sea.
For this reason it is customary to do burst firecrackers and fireworks and hang decorations of paper or red cloth, to scare and ward off the fateful monster Nian. Another tradition is the parade of the lion wǔshī 舞狮, where kung fu students carry a papier-mâché lion depicting Nian along the streets, accompanied by the thuds of drums. A widespread variant in the North of China is the dragon dance wǔlóng 舞龙, for this reason the two disciplines are often confused.
This recipe has already been read 227 times!