| Kitchen God | |
The Spring Festival (or the Chinese New Year) is the most important event for the Chinese.
The Spring Festival is on Feb. 5 for Year 2000 and it is the Year of the Dragon. It is said
that people born in the Year of the Dragon inspire trust, are honest, sensitive and sincere,
never flattering, and their opinions are usually valid.
From the 23th to the 28th, it is the seed time for the great festival. People are
usually found themselves buying various things which vary from new clothes to delicious food.
The Spring Festival is also the time for all family members getting together.
Usually most people are trying to get home from different places
before or on the New Year's Eve (the 29th) so the week before the Chinese New Year is
the busiest travel time in China.
Chinese New Year Index
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Traditionally the Spring Festival actually begins its course a week before the Chinese New Year (the 23th of the
last month from Chinese lunar calendar), with the practice of offering a sacrifice to
the Kitchen God, a god sent from Heaven to each family to take charge of
family's affairs and make a report on what the family has done in the past year
to Heaven annually on the date of the 23th.
Strangely enough, the sacrifice to
the Kitchen God is a lotus root-like sticky cake made of a kind of confection, a
typical Chinese traditional candy, instead of the usual cows, pigs or sheep. The
purpose of the practice is compromising, for people are making full use of the
sticky cake to prevent the Kitchen God from speaking ill of the
family in Heaven by sticking his mouth. Of course, it seems to be quite a tacit
agreement between the Kitchen God and his prayers; he is always accepting the
sweet food from the people around. This tradition is no longer popular in cities now,
but may still be observed in some areas of countryside.
To learn everything here about Chinese New Year.