Chinese New Year - The Story Behind It

新年快乐！(xin1 nian2 kuai4 le4) Happy Chinese New Year!

This is probably the most important festival in China.  It goes according to the lunar calendar, so if you were wondering why it did not fall on January 1st, that' why!  

This festival also has a very interesting story that can explain a lot about Chinese culture.  Here we go!

According to legend, there was a terrible monster that would come out of the sea on New Year's Eve to bring terror to the nearby villages.  It would eat and kill children and adults alike.  So the Chinese would go up to the mountain top to stay safe.

One year, an old woman refused to go up the mountain.  She was too weak to go and was approaching the end of her life anyway.  Reluctantly, the villagers left her behind and set off for the mountain peak.  

As the sun was setting, the old woman started to get cold, so she built a fire and huddled by it.  The gentle crackle of the flames reassured her.  

Then the old woman heard a sound.  When she looked up to see where it came from she laid eyes on the monster.  He was approaching and he had spotted her.  

Chinese people buying fireworks

Yet when the monster arrived near her, it pounced away and disappeared back to where it came from. The old woman was puzzled.  She certainly could not have frightened it.  As she looked back at the fire, she realized that it had frightened the monster away.  

She had discovered the three things that the monster dreaded: light, crackling sounds, and the color red.  This is why to this day, Chinese people like the color red so much.  On New Year's Eve, the tradition is to put as much red everywhere as possible.  They also light many fire crackers and keep the lights on all night to frighten the monster.  

Chinese couplet
Can you read what it says?

Another thing done is to place something called "couplets" on your door.  You will typically have two and sometimes three.  You place one on each side of the door going down vertically and if you have a third one, it will go horizontally go on top.  The couplets are usually 4 characters long each.  

Hopefully this holiday makes more sense now!  新年快乐！