It seems that people show much more enthusiasm toward the new year's eve. So what is
happening on the new year's eve?
Members of a family are supposed to stay up as late as they can at the New Year's eve.
Long ago, it was believed that gods in Heaven would spread gold over
to each family so they kept awake, active and ready to seize it with door closed.
The new year's eve is also the best time for the members of a family to talk with each
other, report about their experiences and achievements, and exchange their ideas
and plans for the next year.
For most of the northerners in China, making Chinese dumplings is a must
at the new year's eve. As you know, making dumplings
for a large family needs more than one person to fulfil.
So it is also the time for the family members to chat
around the table throughout the cooperation on the job.
And the talk can often go back to their past when they were very young.
I usually spend the Festival in my hometown with my parents.
I can see the delighted faces of my parents
when we sit down to work at the dumplings. The scene often brings my mother
back to the old days we had together and she treasures those
days very much though we were not so well-off as today. I still have a vivid
picture of how our brothers and sisters in our childhood played joyfully in
the new year's eve.
If the new year's eve is the time for families of the year,
the new year eve's dinner will certainly be the hour of the new year's eve. The dinner is
full of symbolic meaning, such as Chinese dumplings implying wealth since
they have the shape of ancient Chinese gold or silver ingots. Everyone, even
kids, drinks a little Jiu (usually hard liquor), which symbolizes longevity since
Jiu has the same pronunciation as longevity in Chinese.
Chinese New Year Index
To learn everything here about Chinese New Year.
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