Penang is the place to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Malaysia.
Because of cyclical lunar dating, the first day of the year can fall anywhere
between late January and the middle of February. This year Chinese
New Year is on February 14th, 2010.
— The Year of the Tiger. If you were born in 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998,
or 2010 - you were born under the sign of the Rat.
Famous people born in the Year Of The Tiger: Chuck Berry, Dayanara Torres Delgado, Demi Moore, Dr. Phil, Ed Harris,
Elliot Gould, Emilio Estevez, Esai Morales, Harriet Harman, Jane Pauley, Jodie
Foster, Jonathan Porrit, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Pausini, Marco Polo, María Félix,
Marilyn Monroe, Martin Short, Mary Queen of Scotts, Mel Brooks, John
Schlesinger, Oliver Reed, Pamela Stephenson, Penélope Cruz, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower, Ramon Novarro, Richard Branson, Tom Cruise, Tony Oliva, and William
Hurt.
THE TIGER
2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950
Full of life,
those born under this sign are fearless, noble and bursting with vigour. They
are affectionate, generous and have a great empathy for fellow human beings.
Their rebellious nature attracts them to adventure and deeds that call for
action instead of deliberation. Optimistic, tigers have a great lot of spunk and
would rather die trying than give up on their ideals. But beware; tigers are
loners who don’t care much for company in their quests. Though spunky, they are
essentially big babies who need their egos stroked often, and boy do they have
huge ones! They are high-strung and easily tense up over trivial matters,
allowing jealousy and possessiveness to get into the way of better judgement.
Reckless, irreverent and rebellious, tigers think rules are created only to be
broken.
Preparations tend to begin a month from date of the Chinese
New Year (similar to a Western Christmas), when people start buying
presents, decorations materials, food and clothing. A huge clean up
gets underway days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are
cleaned from top to bottom, to sweep away any traces of bad luck,
and doors and windowpanes are given a new coat of paint, usually
red. The doors and windows are then decorated with paper cuts and
couplets with themes such as happiness, wealth and longevity printed
on them. Dinner is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings,
signifying different good wishes. After dinner, the family sit up
for the night playing cards, board games or watching TV programs
dedicated to the occasion. On the day itself, an ancient custom
called Hong Bao, meaning Red packet, takes place. This involves
married couples giving children and unmarried adults money in red
envelopes.
The origin of the Chinese New
Year is too old to trace; but the tales about it are quite
interesting. Legend has it that there was a beast called Nian (which
means "year" in Chinese) that would come to China the night before
the new year began (according to the Chinese Calendar) and prey upon
the people. One of the legends has it that Nian had a very big mouth
and that he would swallow a great many people with every bite.
One day an old man came to the rescue of the
people, he said to Nian, "I hear that you are a very capable beast,
but do you think that you could swallow the other beasts of prey
instead of people, who are not worthy opponents?" So Nian started to
swallow he other beast which were harassing the people anyway. After
that the man disappeared riding Nian, it turns out that the man was
really an immortal god.
The old man told the people to
put up red decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end
to scare away Nian in case he came back. Nian lived in fear of the
colour red.
The people celebrate the New Year by putting up red
paper and lighting fire- crackers to scare away Nian.
They say the
words "Guo Nian" which mean both, "Survive the Nian" and "Celebrate
the year." The word "guo" in Chinese means both observe, and
pass-over.
Another tradition of the
Chinese people is to wear bright costumes to attract the god of the
universe who is supposed to come back at the beginning of the New
Year.
The climax of the Chinese New
Year lasts only five days including New Year's Eve, but the New Year
season is one month long. During the New Year Celebration there is a
lot of business and travelling conducted by the Chinese.
There is a lot to the
celebration of the Chinese New Year. The people start to prepare
themselves for the five-day New Year celebration a month in advance.
At the end of the five-day celebration the people start again to
prepare for the lantern festival, which takes place about ten days
later. The holiday of the New Year lasts about one month.
The
five-day celebration is the most important part of the Chinese
celebration. The people will do no cooking, except reheating, during
these five days, and the shops will be closed.
During the month before the celebration takes
place chicken, fish, and pork are dried; eggs are preserved, and
vegetables are pickled.
All food preparation is done in order to be
ready for the many guests who will be coming.
On the first day of the
five-day celebration, the day of New Year's Eve the people visit
family and friends and bid farewell to the old year. Between 9:00
p.m. and 11:00 p.m. "incense is lit and placed on a table that has
been arranged to meet the spirits who will descend to earth" (Hou-Tien).
After 11:00 offerings are made to the gods. "The gods are asked to
bring peace and prosperity." The people then have a great feast as
the festivities of the New Year sound on the streets throughout the
night.
On New Year's Day the people
all dress in new clothes and spend the day with their families. They
exchange gifts; some of these gifts are gifts of money wrapped in
red and gold paper. This money is to be spent throughout the
holiday. Food is kept warm all day for visiting family. The
tradition is to eat dumpling soup; whoever bites into the dumpling
with the surprise in it is supposed to have good luck throughout the
year.
The second day of the New Year
is for visiting family. Money trees are put out as a sign of
prosperity.
The third day of the festival
is marked with fire-crackers and the Dragon Dance. This is also the
day for the beginning of the Lion Dance, which lasts through the
fifth day.
(Read about <Chingay Parade
Here>)
The fourth day is a day for
people, even strangers to drop in and visit wherever they like.
The fifth day of the New Year
is for visiting family who are far away, a day of travel and
reunion. On this day all of the shops re-open and the people can
cook again.
The Lantern Festival begins
about ten days later, with the first full moon of the New Year, this
lasts three days. During these three days decorated lanterns are
hung, the people wear white in honour of the moon and moon cakes are
eaten.
The Lantern Festival, comes
from the time when the Chinese People would go in search of spirits
with burning sticks. They thought that the spirits could be seen
during a full moon.
