Chinese New Year

LEARN ABOUT THE LEGEND, TRADITIONS

OF THE CELEBRATION OF THIS HOLIDAY

ENGLISH FOR KIDS 4+

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In February, Chinese people are celebratingthe Chinese New Year.

This centuries-old holiday is filled withexciting traditions and rituals.

Is also called :

Lunar New Year – as it ‘s based on Lunar Calender

Spring Festival - as it marks the beginning of spring

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The legends One legend tells of themonster Nian, who attackedhumans the night before a

new year. This monster wasfrightened away by a god, dressed as an old man, withcrackling, burning bamboo. This god taught the humansthat Nian is afraid ofbright colors and loudnoises. Therefore in orderto "survive Nian", theChinese decorate theirhomes with bright red colorsand set off firecrackers

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Another legend relates to Chinesedragons, which are magical, powerful creatures that bringrain. However, the rain dragonssleep over the winter, resulting invery little rain. The dragons mustbe awakened for spring in orderto bring rain and new growth. Thenoise of noise makers, firecrackers and fireworks is usedto awaken the dragons.

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The festival lasts for 15 days.

During these 15 days people follow many traditions celebrating with their families.

Let’s learn some of the things to be done to welcome and celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year.

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Customs and traditions during Chinese New Year

1. Cleaning

2. Decoration

3. Food

4. Family gatherings

5. Traditional Feast – Reunion Dinner

6. Red envelopes

7. Lantern festival

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1. CLEANING

• Homes are cleaned

top to bottom before the

beginning of the new year

to get rid off all the bad luck

gathered in the previous year.

• Kids help to clean their homes too.

• And after the New Year comes, you cannot sweep duringthe first days otherwise all the new luck will sweep away!

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• as Chinese New Year approaches, homes, offices, shops, airports, train stations aredressed in their holiday best.

• A sea of red and gold, bright lanterns andflowers are everywhere welcoming the arrivalof the largest and most important festival of theyear.

• What are the typical ornaments for the SpringFestival?

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Bright Red Lanterns

• The most popular decorations are red and goldlanterns

The red Chinese Lanternhas become a symbol ofChinese Culture. To Chinese, it representsvitality and prosperity.

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Banners and Scrolls withNew Year's Greetings

• Red and gold banners with NewYear messages of goodluck adorn all all entrancesoffering a warm welcome andwishes of prosperity and goodfortune for the upcoming year.

• Red and Gold are lucky colorsfor the Chinese, red symbolizesvitality of life and happiness, gold represents wealth andprosperity.

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Chinese Knots

• Chinese Knots are hung during the holidays orgiven as good-luck charms to your loved ones.

• They protect from evil spirits and particularlythe intricate "endless knots" are a sign of an"endless" life or longevity.

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Ancient Chinese Coins

• Coins are associated withwealth and prosperity.

• You will typically see theancient coin with the squarehole in the middle used asdecorative tokens.

• Also popular are charms withthree coins tied with red stringfor good luck.

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Chinese Gold Ingot

• These boat-shapedgold ingots make shinyornaments.

• They were traditionallymade of silver or goldand used as money inAncient China andtherefore representwealth and prosperity.

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Preparing Food

• Food must be prepared ahead of time.

• Food is very important to Chinese.

• This is a time of abundance, lots of food signify prosperityfor the coming year!

• Many dinnersare held withfamily

• And there will be lots of visiting relatives and friends

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Traditional dishes• So what needs to be prepared?

Here are some popular dishes that are traditionally present at the Chinese New Year.

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Dumplings

• Dumplings represent prosperity.

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Noodles

• Noodles represent long life.

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Oranges and tangerines

• Oranges and tangerines symbolize luck andtheir bright color looks like gold.

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Candy tray

• eight kinds ofdried sweet fruits

• candy in shiny redand goldwrappers

• chocolate coins

• individuallywrapped gummycandies in flavorslike lychee ormango

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Live plants and vases of fresh flowers.

• Chinese New Year is a celebration marking theend of the winter season and the beginning ofspring.

• Plants are more than decoration, they are asymbol of good fortune, wealth andprosperity.

• A flower that blooms on New Year's day isparticularly "lucky".

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Decorating with Plants and Flowers forChinese New Year

• These are some of the most popular and their specialmeanings:

• Mandarin andOrange trees

• Kumquat,• Bamboo• Branches of

Cherry or PlumBlossoms

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Family Gatherings

• Families come together during Chinese New Year

• It is the time of year to gather with yourfamily, and welcome the New Year.

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Traditional Feast – Reunion Dinner

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The Chinese New Year Red Envelope

• is one of the favoriteChinese traditions forchildren since on NewYear's Day, they aregiven the shiny thingswith money inside!

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New Year's Eve

• Firecrackers are set off onNew Year's Eve to send outthe old year and welcome inthe new.

• firecrackers made out ofbright shiny paper hangingalongside door entrances, adorning walls

• They are lit in front of housesand stores so that the evilspirits are scared away fromthe loud cracking noises.

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The Lantern Festival marks the end ofthe Chinese New Year Festivities

• There will be a variety of clowns, stilt walkers, acrobats, floats and parades, music and drums and of course the Lion Dance and Dragon dance and firecrackers.

• Children carry their lanterns around the village and familiescome together to eat sweet rice balls for good fortune andfamily unity.

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stilt walkerslingvakids.ru

acrobatslingvakids.ru

floatslingvakids.ru

music and drums

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Lion dance• brings good luck and scare

away the evil spirits.

• The Lion performance isacted out by only twodancers.

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Dragon dance

• Every Chinese New YearParade ends with a DragonDance

• scares away the evil spiritsand all the bad luck withthem

• the Dragon Dance isperformed by a team of adozen or so dancers who hold the dragon up onpoles. They raise and lowerthe Dragon making him"dance"

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Fireworks

The loud noises of the Chinese New Year fireworks are believed to scare away evil spirits

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Беккер Галиной

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