Like Christmas in the Western world, Chinese New Year is a long and important holiday. It is a festival of leaving the old and welcoming the new.
Three thousand years ago，the new year was observed on the winter solstice when the sun is in its southern most position and starts to return for spring. People would celebrate the return of spring and the flourishing and growth of the ten thousand things.
Nowadays, preparations for the new year begin on the ninth of the twelfth lunar month. People start to brew alcohol, prepare wood, and buy food and all the material goods they need. By the 23rd of lunar calendar，the preparations are almost complete. The 23rd is called the “small new year.” From the 23rd until the 30th is the time of cleaning, and it is the most chaotic time in the cities — the streets are full, the markets are full. It is the busiest time for all transportation systems — cars, buses, trains and airplanes — in China. Everyone, regardless of what their work is, goes home before the first of the first lunar month.
During this time now in the temple, we are all busy cleaning, buying and carrying up offerings, and writing “duilian,” or couplets. These couplets are intended to welcome spring time with beautiful language. Not just at the temple, but every family in China writes couplets on red paper and have them around their doors.
On the night of the 30th, the entire family eats jiaozi (dumplings) together and stays up the whole night. On the 1st, everyone goes to the temple to pray and light incense. People spend the day visiting friends, relatives, and neighbors to wish them good health and good luck for the new year. On this day, you cannot say anything that is not auspicious or encouraging.
This day is the happiest time for children because they get new clothes, good food, are surrounded by family, get to set off firecrackers, and also receive lots of money in “hongbao” (red envelopes). Children pay they respects to adults by bowing to them, and the adults in return give them red envelopes.
On the 2nd, people who are married will go to the wife’s family to reunite, eat food together, and wish everyone well for the new year. On the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th, people spend time reuniting with friends, eating, drinking, and having fun.
On the 15th is the Lantern Festival where children light lanterns, and everyone eats sweet dumplings and goes to the street to watch the lanterns. Children usually are not allowed to light lanterns by themselves, but during this festival, the adults give them lanterns made from either oil or candles. So it is another very happy day for the children.
After the Lantern Festival, the celebrations are over and things slowly return to normal.
This new year in 2020 is the Year of the Rat. It is the first year in the 12 year cycle of the Chinese calendar. Those who study Yi Jing and Dan Dao know that the 24-hour cycle of the day is represented with 12 two-hour time slots. The 12 year cycle corresponds with these 12 time slots, and the Year of the Rat corresponds to “Zi” time. As the 12 time slots represent one full inhale and exhale, Zi time and the Year of the Rat are the beginning of the inhale. So this new year is the beginning of a new breath, the beginning of yang rising, the beginning of a new life force.
Every year is a new beginning, and this year is the beginning of a new cycle. All of us at the temple wish you best wishes and good fortune for the new year and new cycle.
