Chinese New Year in the UK

Everything you need to know about preparing for Chinese new year

Chinese New Year (新年), Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar.

Preparing for the Chinese new year

Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the New Year. So make preparations at least a few days before the New Years.

Clean the house

Deep clean every nook and cranny, do all the laundry and throw out any rubbish. Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the New Year

Clean the ancestral altar

Carefully clean the ancestral altar, discard all the leftover incense sticks from the incense pot. (I found a rabbit shaped eraser on the altar- will be having words with the kids!)

Go shopping

Get rid of any old unwanted damaged clothes and buy some new clothes for the New Year. In with the new and out with the old.

Get a hair cut

Getting a haircut in the first lunar month puts a curse on you, like cutting your life short. Therefore, people get a haircut before the New Year's Eve

Prepare lucky red envelopes (紅包)

At Chinese New Year, it's tradition to give a bright, beautiful red envelope (known as 紅包, hóngbāo) to your friends and family. The red color symbolizes good luck and prosperity in Chinese culture. The amount put inside is totally up to you.

Prepare lucky red decorations and couplets

Chinese New Year couplets are two antithetical poetic lines that are complementary to each other in form and meaning. The couplets are often used to decorate doors and express hopes and happiness for the coming year. You can also make your own Chinese new year decorations. A fun activity with the kids.

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Chinese New Year Eve

Chinese New Year's Eve or Lunar New Year's Eve is the day before the Chinese New Year. Celebrating Chinese New Year’s Eve has always been a family matter in China, it is the reunion day for every Chinese family where every effort is made to return home for a family meal

Although my parents were usually okay if us siblings were too busy to make it home for the reunion dinner.

Offerings to our ancestors 辭年

We prepare the following in preparation to the after ceremony of Ci Nian.

This consists of 5 bowls of rice and chopsticks, Chinese New Year cake, a whole chicken, and pork belly. (Salt is sprinkled on top of the rice and pork for flavour). 3 tea cups and 5 wine cups (三茶五酒).

On the afternoon of Lunar New Year’s Eve, the ceremony of Ci Nian (Traditional Chinese: 辭年), which means bidding farewell to the old year, is held by offering food and joss paper to Heaven, the family gods, the ancestors, and finally the wandering souls - the souls of former residents who died without family, did not receive a proper funeral, and are believed to still protect the household - as well as the Taoist gods of the property, such as Tu Di Gong.

We start by pouring 3 cups of tea and 5 cups of wine, then lighting 3 incense sticks and 2 red candles. We say our prayers and auspicious phrases, and once the red candles have burned about halfway down, we offer a second round of wine in each glass as a top-up. We do the same again when the candles are nearly finished burning, followed by burning the paper offerings.

Once the offerings, candles and incense have all finished burning, we pour a little wine from each glass into the ashes in the incinerator where the offerings were burned. We then place the cups and food offerings back onto the ancestral altar.

The family gathers for a reunion banquet while enjoying the Chinese New Year Gala on TV. We usually watch the Hong Kong TVB Chinese New Year Gala.

It is always a fun day filled with food and entertainment.

It is also always fun watching the Taoist priests read out our fortunes for the year based on our lunar zodiac animal.

Taboos

On Chinese New Year’s Eve, all cleaning tools such as brooms, mops and dusters should be put away. Chinese people usually clean before New Year begins, because it is believed that sweeping or dusting on New Year’s Day will sweep away the household’s good fortune.

If you absolutely have to clean during Chinese New Year, there is a special way to do it. The cleaning begins at the door, and the dust and rubbish are swept towards the middle of the room, then placed in the corners and left there until the fifth day. This way, you are not sweeping luck out of the house, but drawing it inwards instead.

During the New Year period, the use of scissors, knives and other sharp objects is also avoided. It is believed that sharp objects can cut off your stream of wealth and success for the year, so they are usually put away on Chinese New Year’s Eve as well.

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15 Day Chinese New Year Celebrations

The 15-Day Celebration of Chinese New Year Chinese New Year starts with the New moon on the first day of the first lunar month and ends on the Full moon 15 days later

Chinese New Year Day (Day 1) 初壹

Traditionally, fireworks and firecrackers are set off on this day in China, but that is not really possible here in the UK. So instead, we usually give and receive red envelopes containing lucky money and extend our Chinese New Year greetings to friends and family. The oldest and most senior members of the family are usually visited first, and these visits help strengthen family ties. Bài nián (拜年) refers both to paying a New Year’s call and to wishing somebody a Happy New Year.

Abstaining from meat on the first day is believed to help enhance longevity. Additionally, eating a vegetarian meal is thought to help purify and cleanse the body, while also honouring the Buddhist tradition that no living thing should be killed on the first day of the New Year. So on this day, we usually enjoy a vegetarian meal.

Taboos

On Chinese New Year's day do not do the following:

Wash your hair- you will wash away your luck

Sweep the floor or throw out garbage - you will be sweeping and throwing away your wealth and luck (instead sweep the rubbish from the door to the middle of the room then into a bag to be thrown out on the fifth day.

Don't use sharp objects or knives - you will be cutting away at your wealth (everything is about money I know)

Don't hurry your partners out of bed. In the old society, men were the dominant breadwinners. The first day of the new year symbolises the start, so if the wife/partner wakes up the husband, that symbolises he will be a pushover in his career and daily life

Don't argue and don't scold – Do not scold your children or your spouse. If you are arguing on the first day, you will argue for the rest of the year.

Don't eat meat on the first and 15th day of the new year, go vegetarian. (This is to ensure a long and happy life). On the 15th day is the first full moon of the lunar new year.

Day 2 初二

On this day, we again make offerings to our ancestors and Tsai Sun (財神), the God of Wealth. He is believed to return to heaven on this day of the lunar New Year, so this ceremony is held to see the deity off and to wish for a luckier and more prosperous year ahead.

In honour of the deity, people often eat dumplings, as their shape resembles a gold ingot.

Traditionally, married women would visit and pay their respects to their birth parents on the second day.

Day 3 & Day 4 初三/初四

As a sign of respect, families who have had an immediate relative pass away within the past three years do not visit anyone’s house during this period. Instead, the third day of the New Year is traditionally set aside for visiting graves.

Some people also believe it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all on this day, as evil spirits are said to roam the earth, and being outdoors is thought to bring bad luck. My parents always followed the stay-at-home rule on the third and fourth day

Day 5 初五

This day is the birthday of Tsai Sun (財神), the God of Wealth, so respect is paid to the deity. It is also believed that the God of Wealth may visit the family home, so it is considered wise to stay in. If you do need to go out, it is best to keep it brief.

Sweeping the floor is no longer considered bad luck on this day, so you can finally clean and throw out the rubbish that has built up over the last four days.

Day 6 初六

The sixth day is traditionally a day for visiting temples, relatives and friends.

Day 7 初七

In Chinese mythology, mankind was created on this day, so it is seen as the birthday of humanity. To mark the occasion, people make porridge using seven kinds of vegetables and rice.

Day 8 - Day 14 初八 - 十四

These days are used to visit friends and family and just enjoy the new year celebrations.

Day 15 十五 Lantern Festival 元宵節

The 15th day marks the first full moon after the Spring Festival and the Lunar New Year, and is also known as Lantern Festival.

On this day, we eat special sweet dumplings called yuanxiao, which resemble the shape of the full moon. These round dumplings are made from glutinous rice flour and filled with sweet fillings, symbolising reunion.

Yuanxiao are also called tāngyuán (湯圓). Tāngyuán literally means “round balls in soup”.

In China, Lantern Festival celebrations often include lantern displays, but we do not really have that here in the UK. In recent years, though, there have been special lantern light festival events held around this time for people to enjoy.

Another legend links the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tian Guan (天官) is the Taoist “Ruler of Heaven” and the god associated with good fortune, wealth and luck. His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tian Guan enjoys all forms of entertainment, so followers prepare different activities during which they pray for good fortune. On this day, our household also makes prayers and offerings to the gods and our ancestors.

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Chinese New Year was very different for my family in 2021. With my father passing away in December 2020, it meant we had to skip that year’s celebrations.

Chinese New Year fell during our 100 days of mourning, but even if it hadn’t, according to Chinese customs, if there has been a death in the family within the year, you are expected to skip the following year’s celebrations.

We did still make offerings to the gods and our ancestors on Chinese New Year’s Eve, as well as on the second and fifteenth day. However, we were not allowed to visit other people’s homes, give New Year wishes, or hand out red envelopes.

What we also realised during that Chinese New Year was that my father, being the brilliant chef he was, had always been the one in the kitchen cooking up a feast. He was also the one who made all the Chinese New Year preparations and carried out the ancestral offerings. That was another reason I wanted to start this blog and write everything down, so these traditions and preparations could be passed on to future generations.

My late father loved cooking and bringing the family together, so we will do our best to keep that tradition going for as long as my cooking skills allow - or until we give in and order takeaway.

In loving memory of my father

A.S.DO 7th February 1955 - 8th December 2020