Be Prepared for New Year's Eve Merriment
As for the meals part of celebration, traditional menu for Chinese New Year's Day consists of fish, chicken, jai, noodles and sweets. The New Year's dinner symbolizes accumulation of wealth, as the meals are preferably served in silver or gold ingots, which are a part of ancient Chinese craft. For drinks, Jiu is always on table and signifies vitality, and so does Daikon (radish). Rice, as always, signifies balance while chili peppers are believed to attract luck.
It is common to go to streets in the meantime of a New Year’s party. Chinese children put on dragon costumes and head to parade. Chinese dragon dances is a vital entertaining part of street parades. A specially selected actor is playing a man having the “Gem of Wisdom” who sits on a moving platform and persuades the dragon to follow his way as the drums make loud rhythm – this symbolizes path of seeking for knowledge and enlightenment.
Another valuable part of New Year’s parade is the lion dance. The Lantern Fest is a fascinating eye-candy exhibition of multicolored lanterns created by folding paper. Lantern masters show paper sculptures of dragonflies, birds, butterflies, dragons, as well as numerous different bugs or even unnatural creatures. The Dragon Boat Fest is celebrated to honor one Chinese scholar who willingly jumped off to the bottom of the river as the sign of protest.
New Year in China is not merely a party or festival, it is a special occasion when people come up with new hopes and welcome the upcoming seasons, and refine their souls to trash any evilness.