Chinese New Year ushers in the Year of the Rabbit

By Kaveri Gyanendra

Celebrated for 15 days and based on the lunar calendar, the Chinese New Year is a time for families to gather and celebrate longevity, wealth and happiness for the new year.

On the eve of the new year, families congregate for a meal to welcome it in together.

"The night before is like a hybrid between Thanksgiving and new year's," sophomore Ka Lau said. "Typically, families gather for a large meal together. Since most of my family is in Hong Kong, my mom and I will go to a restaurant for dinner. It's like Thanksgiving — a lot of family time."

On the actual new year's day, families pay visits to grandparents, typically to express respect for elders, according to Lau.

"When I lived in Hong Kong my family and I would always go to my dad's side of the family in the morning where my grandparents would make traditional dishes," Lau said. "Then we would go to my mom's side for early dinner, then at night we play mah jong."

The history behind Chinese New Year dates back to the myth of a beast who would ravage a town on the new year by devouring everything from crops and livestock to the children in the streets. To protect themselves, the families would place large amount of food in front of the doors to placate the beast. It was soon discovered that the beast was scared away by the color red as well as loud noises, hence the vibrant red decorations and fireworks seen during Chinese New Year.   

According to Chinese Student Association President, senior Daynard Tan, there is also a tradition of line dancing to celebrate the new year, as the loud music and dance sounds are known to scare away evil spirits. In addition, decorations in one's home are a vital part of the holiday.

"Families buy printed calligraphy signs that have different phrases to hang up in their homes during the celebrations," Lau said.

Various Chinese idioms appear on the posters and signs in houses for both guests and the gods to see.

"We hang some of the signs upside down so that the gods can read them," Tan said.

According to CSA member sophomore Bernadette Tong, families post red envelopes to their doors as a way of warding off the evil spirits. The red packets are a key part of the Chinese New Year tradition, as these packets, called lai see, are filled with money and given to both young and single individuals. For accounting Professor Siqi Li, receiving lai see packets was the best part of Chinese New Year while growing up.

"My favorite [tradition] of the new year's celebration was the lai see packets and getting money," she said.

Traditionally, the amount within the envelope should be an even number. Many choose to give an amount using the digit eight, such as $8 or $800, as eight is the lucky number in Chinese culture.

In efforts to celebrate the Chinese New Year with those who are away from family, CSA hosts their annual trip to San Francisco, where the club travels as a group to eat a tradition meal of dim sum and watch the vivacious celebratory parade in Union Square.

"The Chinese New Year we celebrate here is pretty westernized," Tan said. "I want to see the real celebrations in an Asian country some day."

Alongside the student celebrations, the faculty on campus also make an effort to honor the new year.

"With the growing Chinese community in the business school, it is nice to celebrate together," Li said. "We will try and go out to lunch together."

While Chinese Americans make efforts to maintain their roots, some find it hard to keep with with traditions.

"It's a different atmosphere here," Li said. "Sometimes we treat it like a normal say, but this year will be different since my in-laws are in town so it will be four of us celebrating instead of just two."

Tong added, "the Chinese culture is so deep, but living in the US, we only get some of it. The culture gets lost."

Although some of the traditions get lost in the shuffle, Chinese natives continue to celebrate the holiday as best they can.

"Overall it's a good time going out to eat with family and spending time with close family and extended family that I barely get to see," Tong said.

Contact Kaveri at kgyanendra@scu.edu or at (408) 554-1918.