Randel McGee - Paper Crafts for Chinese New Year

DRAGONS! LANTERNS! LIONS!

Do you want to make your own dancing dragon puppet? Dragon dances are an important part of Chinese New Year celebrations. Follow storyteller Randel McGee as he explores Chinese New Year in Paper Crafts for Chinese New Year. Learn to make a Lai See envelope, shadow puppets, Chinese lantern, and more!

Since many people are probably unfamiliar with Chinese culture and traditions, this will be a valuable book. The crafts are well organized, nicely connected to the Chinese New Year, and easy to complete.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Randel McGee is a storyteller, puppeteer, ventriloquist, and paper-cutting artist. He performs all over the world, sharing his paper-cutting stories with children and adults. This is his first series with Enslow Publishers, Inc.

It is late January or early February. The streets of a large city are bustling with people. Suddenly a large, colorful dragon dances in the street! Drums and gongs sound everywhere. Firecrackers explode all around! Fireworks light up the night! People shout Gung hay fat choy! and Happy New Year! These people are celebrating the Chinese New Year following a calendar that is much older than the calendar we use today.

Chinese history says that the lunar calendar and method for counting days, weeks, and years was invented by Emperor Huang Ti about 2637 B.C.E. The emperors calendar was based on a scientific study of the cycles of the sun and moon.

The Chinese still use their lunar calendar to set dates for traditional celebrations. The Chinese New Year begins with the second new moon (the dark phase of the moon) after the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year) and ends with the next full moon fifteen days later. Each year is named for one of twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, or star cycle.

The Chinese have many fun and lively traditions celebrating the first fifteen days of the New Year. On the first day, they welcome all the gods of heaven and do not eat meat. The second day, they pray to their ancestors and are extra kind to their pet dogs, as this is the day to honor all dogs. On the third and fourth days, all married men are supposed to pay special honor to their parents-in-law. On day five, everyone stays home to welcome the God of Wealth. It is bad luck to visit friends on this day. From the sixth to the tenth day they will visit their friends and relatives. The seventh day is considered everyones birthday and eating noodles on this day means you will have a long life. The tenth through twelfth days are to invite relatives for dinner. The thirteenth is a day of simple foods, after all the big dinners of the previous three days. The fourteenth day is to get ready for the last day of celebration. The fifteenth day is the Lantern Festival when children carry lanterns around their neighborhoods at night as they visit their friends.

The Dragon Parade and the Lion Dance are important parts of this celebration. The dragon is said to bring good fortune and the lion scares evil away. During the fifteen days of the New Year celebration Chinese decorate their homes with the symbols for luck, fortune, happiness, and prosperity in hope that these good things will stay in their homes throughout the year.

During the Chinese New Year celebration a large, colorful dragon dances in the streets. The dragon costume is made with a big papier-mch head and a long cloth body with many people inside to make it dance and slither along. It is thought that the longer the body is, the more good luck will come to the village. The movements are slithery like a snake, with the dragons head looking from side to side and dipping up and down. The dragons are often brightly colored in red (considered a lucky color in China), green, or gold. Make your own miniature dragon puppet.

1. Cut two small triangles across from each other on one end of one of the toilet tissue tubes. This tube will form the dragons head (See A). Cut the other tube at an angle. This will be the dragons tail.

2. Paint the outside of the tubes as you wish with poster paint. Let dry.

3. Cut four 10-inch-long pieces of crepe-paper streamers. The pieces can be any color you like. Glue the long edges of the pieces together to form one wide sheet of crepe paper (See B). Let dry.

4. Cut different shapes from construction paper to add eyes, teeth, horns, whiskers, and scales to your dragons head and tail (See C).

5. Tape one short side of the sheet of crepe paper to the back edge of the head. Tape the other end of the crepe paper to the uncut end of the tail piece.

6. On the underside of the head and tail, ask an adult to help poke a hole in the middle of each one using scissors.

7. Push a chopstick or dowel up through the hole. Tape it in place inside the tube. Do the same with the second chopstick and second hole (See D).

This is a puzzle and creative game from China. It is not known how old it is, but the first book about it appeared in China in 1813. It is popular throughout China and is a fun game to play when visiting friends and relatives during the sixth through tenth days of the New Year celebration. The rules are simple: Use all the shapes, or tans, from the puzzle; make sure they all touch another piece, but do not let them overlap; create a recognizable design. Use your imagination!

1. Draw a 4-inch x 4-inch square on a piece of construction paper. Use a ruler to make seven different shapes in the square (See A). (See for the pattern).

2. Cut out the square and the shapes inside the square.

3. Arrange the tan into interesting shapes and designs on a sheet of office paper (See B).