Chinese New Year Traditions

Chinese Culture is rich in its culture and traditions . They have their own beliefs and New Year traditions , which they follow ardently. Although the Chinese New Year , Nian, lasts only two or three days including the Chinese New Year's Eve, the Chinese New Year season extends from the mid-twelfth month of the previous year to the middle of the first month of the new year. A month from the onset of the Chinese New Year, it is supposed to be a good time for business.

People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration material, food and clothing.It is the Chinese New Year tradition that every family gives its house a thorough cleaning, hoping to sweep away all the ill-fortune there may have been in the family to make way for the wishful in-coming good luck. People also give their doors and window-panes a new paint, usually in red color. They decorate the doors and windows with paper-cuts and couplets with the very popular theme of "happiness", "wealth", "logevity" and "satisfactory marriage with more children".

Paintings of the same theme are put up in the house on top of the newly mounted wallpaper. In the old days, it was a Chinese New year tradition to distribute various kinds of food at the alta of ancestors. The Eve of the Chinese New Year is very carefully observed. Supper is a feast, with all members coming together. One of the most popular Chinese New year tradition course is “jiaozi”, dumplings boiled in water. "Jiaozi" in Chinese literally mean "sleep together and have sons", a long-lost good wish for a family.

After dinner, it is time for the whole family to sit up for the night while having fun playing cards or board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the occasion. It is also a tradition to keep every light on the whole night. At midnight, fireworks will light up the whole sky as people's excitement reach its zenith.

Very early the next morning, children greet their parents and receive their presents in terms of cash wrapped up in red paper packages from them. Then, the family starts out to say greetings from door to door, first to their relatives and then to their neighbors. This Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all old grudges. The air is permeated with warmth and friendliness. During and several days following the New Year's day, people are visiting each other, with a great deal of exchange of gifts.

The New Year atmosphere is brought to an anti-climax fifteen days away when the Festival of Lanterns sets in. It is an occasion of lantern shows and folk dances everywhere. One typical food is the Tang Yuan, another kind of dumplings made of sweet rice rolled into balls and stuffed with either sweet or spicy fillings. This tradition is also specially followed on Chinese New Year time.

The Lantern Festival marks the end of the Chinese New Year season and afterwards life becomes daily routines once again. Traditions of the Chinese New Year vary from place to place, considering that China is a big country not only geographically, but also demographically and ethnically. Yet, the spirit underlying the diverse celebrations of the Chinese New Year is the same: a sincere wish of peace and happiness for the family members and friends.

（http://www.123chinesenewyear.com/traditions/）

Traditional Chinese Wedding Customs (5)

Post Wedding Activities

The Bride Returning Home after 3 Days

Nowadays in certain regions, this rule is still being followed where the bride will return to the family with gifts. However, in some regions, this custom is being simplified so the bride will return home on the same day if distance allows. Otherwise, some brides will leave the door, and then return to the house again and count that as 'returning home'.

Traditional Chinese Wedding Customs (4)

Wedding Day Activities

Wedding Day: picking up the Bride

On the day of the wedding, the groom will send a carriage over to the bride's family to bring the bride home. The carriage is decorated in red and is carried by four servants. Musicians will accompany the procession and they will play wedding music all the way. A lot of gifts are also brought to the bride's family at the same time.

At the bride's home, the bride will put on her bright red wedding gown and the bride's parents will give her jewelry to wear.

Bride Leaving Home

As the groom's procession arrives, the groom's spokeswoman will enter the bride's house and will carry the bride on her back. The bride cannot touch the ground with her feet until she arrives at the groom's house. In some regions, the bride's relatives will throw rice into the air, hoping that the chickens around will eat the rice instead of pecking at the bride. Sometimes, a red umbrella is used to shield the bride as the opening of the umbrella will symbolize her bringing many descendants to the groom's family.

As the bride leaves the house, her parents and her relatives will bid her farewell as she rides the carriage and leaves home. Wealthy brides often have servant girls who will follow her to the groom's family and continue to serve her. These maids are known as ones who 'accompany the marriage'.

Bride Arriving at the Groom's Home

After the bride arrive at the groom's house, the couple will again worship the ancestors and worship the heavens and earth. Then they will serve tea to the groom's family according the their seniority and the relatives will give them red packets or bridal jewelry in return.

The Wedding Banquet

To celebrate the marriage, the groom's family will throw a wedding feast as large as they can afford. In the old days, some villagers may use up to seven continuous days to entertain the relatives during a wedding. Every night, delicious food is being served to all the guests.

Traditional Chinese Wedding Customs (3)

Preparation for the wedding

Setting up the Bridal Bed

After the groom's family has selected a 'good day' as the wedding day, a man who's considered to have had good fortune all through his life will be hired to move the bridal bed to the right place. Then a lady who's considered to have had good fortune [with healthy and living husband and sons] will make the bed and place certain good fortune food and fruits on the bed. Then the bed will be left untouched until the day of the wedding.

The Bride's Gifts for the Groom

The bride's gifts for the groom will either arrive a couple of days before the wedding day or if she's a relatively long-distance bride, she'll bring along the gifts with her maids as she arrive at the groom's home on wedding day.

The bride's gifts usually consists of valuable jewelry and precious stones, kitchen utensils, proper bridal linen such as sheets, pillow covers and clothes. In some area, the bride's family is expected to furnish the bridal except for the bridal bed. There's a saying that if the bride supplies the bridal bed, then the family is practically giving the bride away for free.

Combing Hair

The night before the wedding, both the bride and the groom needs to find a 'good fortune' woman and man to comb their hair in his/her home respectively. Both the bride and the groom needs to take shower before the event, change to some fresh new underwear and incense needs to be burnt. The bride also needs to sit next to a window where the moon can be seen. Their hair needs to be combed four times and each has a special meaning: The first combing symbolizes: from beginning till the endThe second combing symbolizes: harmony from now till old ageThe third combing symbolizes: sons and grandsons all over the placeThe fourth combing summaries good wealth and a long-lasting marriage.

The whole action also symbolizes the adulthood of the couple. If either has been married before, then the combing event can be skipped for that person.

Traditional Chinese Wedding Customs (2)

Three Letters

In the old days, all communication was through formal letters. Therefore, the letters play an important role in the events.

Request Letter: This letter confirms the formal arrangement of a marriage. It is sent by the groom's family to the bride's family. This letter is normally presented with the initial gifts for the bride's family.

Gift Letter: This letter accompanies the formal gifts for the Bride's family. It is actually a gift list that records the description and quantity of the gifts.

Wedding Letter: This letter is presented to the bride's family on th day of the wedding. It confirms the act of bringing the bride into the groom's family.

Six Etiquette

The Chinese word for etiquette can mean both customs and gifts. The following customs are known as the Six Etiquette

Request for Marrying the Bride

After the groom's family has spotted a young girl whom the groom wants to marry, the family will hire a spokeswoman who will communicate their wish to the potential bride's family. (In the old days, it is popular to hire elderly ladies as midwives or spokeswoman for the groom.) This lady will persuade the potential bride's family to accept the offer from the groom's family. Both sides will negotiate certain terms. If successful, both families will proceed to the next step.

Request for Bride and Groom's Birth Dates

This is the second step in arranging a marriage. Upon successfuly completion of the previous step, the groom's family will request for the bride's 'Eight Letters' through the spokeswoman. In Chinese calendar, there are 22 'letters' that we use to represent date. Ten are known as 'Tian Gan' and twelve are 'Di Zhi'. Two letters are used to represent each of teh following: year, month, day and time. Altogether, eight letters will accurately represent the bride's birthdate.

After obtaining the 'Eight Letters' of the groom and potential bride, a fortune telling master will be hired to determine whether the two match each other. If there is nothing wrong with the bride's birthdate, the groom's family will proceed to the next step. Otherwise, there will be no further contact between the families and the groom's family may look for another suitable bride.

Initial Gifts for the Bride's Family

If the potential bride's birthdate is acceptable, the groom's family will request the spokeswoman to send some initial gifts accompanied by the gift letter.

Formal Gifts for the Bride's Family

The groom's family will pick a 'good day' and send the bride's family the following bridal gifts: gifts, cash, cakes and food and sacrifices for worshiping the ancestors. This act confirms the marriage agreement between the two families.

Select the Wedding Date

The fortune telling master will select a 'good day' according the the bride and groom's and their family's birthdates.

Wedding Day

On the big day, both the bride and the groom's house will be decorated in red. The groom's family will send out a procession of servants, musicians and a carriage which is carried by four servants to the bride's family to bring the bride back. The bride will then be brought back to the groom's house and the two will perform the marriage cermony witnessed by all the relatives and friends.

The bride and groom will worship the heavens and the earth, the groom's ancestors and they will also serve tea to all of their superiors in the family. After that, the superiors will give them red packages (lai see) with monetary gifts and wish them well. The groom's family will then throw a huge feast (if they can afford it) for the friends and relatives to celebrate the wedding. All along, the spokeswoman will oversee the whole process and keep toasting the couple.

After the meal, the newly wed couple will return to the bridal room and some naughty friends may tag-along and play tricks on the groom. When all is done, the couple will drink and toast and the spokeswoman will offer sweets and fruits to the couple to wish them long life and lots of kids (!). Then, the couple will finaly be left with themselves and the groom can take off the red cloth that covers the bride's face.

Traditional Chinese Wedding Customs (1)

The Proper Procedures: Three Letters and Six Etiquette

This is the elaborate process on the groom's parents' part to look for the right kind of bride for their family. Rich families will look for a bride who can take care of household finances and most importantly, give birth to sons to inherit the wealth of the family. Poor families will look for a bride who can work hard in the fields and give birth to sons to help out on the farm.

In the old days, marriages are arranged so it's quite normal for the parents to dominate the bride-seeking process. Girls from rich family will be sought out by other rich families and poor girls will probably marry into poor families. Hence the Chinese saying: bamboo door is to bamboo door as wooden door is to wooden door.

There are some circumstances where the marriage has been arranged when both the bride and the groom were very young or not even born. In the former case, a young girl may be bought by the rich family as a servant girl to serve the rich boy. When the boy grew up, she may become either his wife or one of his concubines. In the latter case, two pregnant mothers will make the promise that when the babies are born, if they were both boys or both girls, they would become brothers or sisters and if one baby was a boy and the other a girl, they would get married. Hence the saying: pointing to the bosom as a marriage promise. However, a lot of times when the boy grew up, his family may have fallen from prestige and sometimes the girl's family may refuse to let them get married. There are numerous folktales about tragedies that stem from arranged marriage. However, there are also many happy endings to arranged marriage. All we can say is that it was the fact of life at that time.
(http://www.chinese-poems.com/wedcus.html)

Never Grow Old - The Cranberrie

Never Grow Old - The Cranberrie　

I had a dream　　

Strange it may seem　　

It was my perfect day　　

I opened my eyes　　

I realized　　

This is my perfect day　

I hope you'll never grow old　　

Hope you'll never grow old　　

Hope you'll never grow old　　

Hope you'll never grow old　　　　

Do Do Do Do　　

Do Do Do Do　　

Do Do Do　　

Do Do Do　　　　

Birds in the sky　　

They look so high　　

This is my perfect day　　

I feel the breeze　　

I feel at ease　　

It is my perfect day　　

Forever young　　

I hope you'll stay　　

Forever young

Do not want to you grow up!

That means you will leave me , and never back!