Fay Robinson - Celebrating Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, started more than four thousand years ago in China. Today, it is celebrated all around the world within the Chinese culture. The two week celebration ends with a colorful dragon parade.

In Celebrating Chinese New Year, author Fay Robinson brings to lifethe many customs of the Chinese New Year.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fay Robinson has written many books for young readers. Among her books for Enslow Publishers, Inc., are Halloween Crafts: Fun Holiday Crafts Kids Can Do! and Christmas Crafts: Fun Holiday Crafts Kids Can Do!

A man holds up a decorated dragon head to celebrate the New Year.

It is evening, and it is also the end of the New Years celebration in Chinatown in San Francisco, California. A large crowd has gathered on the streets. It is hard to find a place to stand. Thousands of people are watching and waiting for a parade.

As darkness arrives, a band marches past the crowds. The parade has begun! Floats that look like they are decorated with flowers roll by. Important people pass in cars with horns honking. Miss Chinatown USA waves to the crowd. She is standing high on a special float. Children in red silk clothes perform a Chinese dance. Athletes stop to do amazing tricks. More floats, more bands, and more performers come down the street. For more than two hours, the wonderful sights of the parade roll by.

There are many different kinds of dragon heads carried through the Chinese New Year festival.

With glittery scales and flashing eyes, a dragon weaves up the street. It is made of colorful cloth, and the people underneath it are holding up its body with poles. It twists and turns, and sways back and forth like a giant puppet. The dragon is supposed to bring good luck for the year to come.

Last, but not least, a long string of firecrackers starts to explode. For several minutes the sounds and sights of popping firecrackers fill the air. The firecrackers leave a trail of smoke as they explode.

The dragon parade marks the end of the New Years celebration for Chinese Americans. But what is the rest of the holiday like, and why is this holiday so important?

Many different kinds of performers are part of the celebration. This woman is dressed in costume. She is marching in a parade to celebrate the new year.

The dragon parade is an important part of many Chinese New Year celebrations.

Chinese New Year is a very old holiday. It started more than four thousand years ago in China. Now it is celebrated all around the world, in any place where large groups of Chinese people live. It does not always come on the same date each year, but it is always in January or February.

There are similar celebrations in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival. In San Francisco, California, Chinese New Year is also called Lunar New Year.

To understand why this holiday is celebrated the way it is, it helps to know a little about China. Farming has always been very important in China. It is still very important today. Long ago the harvesting and planting seasons were the most important times of the year. The harvest was a time to celebrate. It marked the end of another year. If the growing season was good, there would be plenty of food and everyone would be happy. The Chinese New Year holiday started as a way to celebrate the end of one planting season and the beginning of another.

Farming has always been important in China. Plants are an important part of celebrating the new year.

Lanterns are supposed to bring out the light and warmth of spring.

People ate special foods and spent extra time with family and friends at this time. Then they marched through their villages carrying lanterns, special lamps, to chase away the old year. They hoped the lanterns would help bring out the light and warmth of spring. These celebrations ended with firecrackers, just as they do today. A folktale explains the importance of the firecrackers.

People eat special foods and spend extra time with family to celebrate the new year.

According to the story, a monster came down to the villages at this time of year to scare everyone. But one day, just by chance, people noticed that the monster was afraid of loud noises.

Bamboo is a type of tree, and the sticks that form the trees trunk burst open with a bang when they burn. The air inside the hollow spaces of bamboo sticks expandstakes up more spacewhen it is heated by fire. The air keeps pushing on the bamboo sticks andpopthey explode with a loud noise. These were the first firecrackers. Firecrackers have been used ever since to frighten away evil during Chinese New Year.

In Chinese, the word for firecracker means exploding bamboo stick. Bamboo is the type of tree seen here.

Dancers who are dressed in this lion costume in China celebrate the new year. Chinese New Year started more than four thousand years ago in China. Today people from all over the world celebrate.

In China today, the word for firecracker is baozhu. It means exploding bamboo stick. Bamboo is not used for firecrackers anymore. But, today firecrackers come in long, thin shapes just like small bamboo sticks.