Chinese New Year is an important festival celebrated at the turn of the Chinese calendar. The Chinese new year is centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. The festival was a time to honour deities as well as ancestors. It is now celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year’s is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good luck to enter.
The first day is to welcoming the deities of the heavens and earth, officially beginning at midnight. It is a traditional practice to have fireworks, burn bamboo sticks and firecrackers and to make as much noise as possible to chase off the evil spirits. The second day is known as ‘beginning of the year,’ when married daughters visit their parents, relatives and close friends. The third day is known as ‘red mouth’ and is an epithet of ‘the God of Blazing Wrath.’
UMM-E-KHADIJA,
Lahore, March 01