新年快乐

Bell Work: Read the Article

Directions: Once you have finished reading the article, create a Venn Diagram comparing Chinese Holidays with American Holidays.

Ex. American HolidaysChinese Holidays

Similarities

• 今年是马年。

新年的由来• Harvest Thanksgiving Formalized During Han Dynasty:

Chinese New Year celebrations have their origin with end-of-harvest celebrations when people would offer thanks to gods for good harvests and entreaty for a good crop in the following year. Although they varied according to the different calendars used, the customs were formalized under Han Dynasty (206BC-AD 25) rule.

• Traditions Blossom Under Tang Dynasty:Varied festivals around god worship, sacrifice and celebration held at the end of the winter season and at the beginning of the spring were unified under the Han Dynasty rulers to the first day of the first lunar month. During the economically prosperous and politically stable Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), celebrations around the New Year blossomed. Traditional customs around superstitions and worship gradually became means for people simply to celebrate and enjoy time with their families.

新年历史• Based on the Lunar Calendar (Other Asian

countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam also celebrate new year using the lunar calendar.)

• While both Buddhism and Daoism has unique customs during the New Year, Chinese New Year is far older than both religions. Like many agrarian societies, Chinese New Year is rooted in much a celebration of spring just like Easter or Passover.

新年历史 ( 春节 )• Chinese New Year vs. Spring Festival• In China, New Year celebrations are synonymous with “Spring Festival”

and it is typically a week-long celebration.• In 1912, the newly-formed Chinese Republic, governed by the Nationalist

party, renamed the traditional holiday to Spring Festival in order to get the Chinese people to transition to celebrating the Western New Year instead.

• During this period, many Chinese intellectuals felt that modernization meant doing all the things as the West did.

• When the Communists took over power in 1949, the celebration of New Year was viewed as feudalistic and seeped in religion -- not proper for an atheist China. Under the Chinese Communist Party, there were some years where New Year was not celebrated at all.

• By the late 1980s, however, as China began liberalizing its economy, Spring Festival celebrations became big business.

• China Central Television has held an annual New Year’s Gala since 1982, which was and is still televised across the country and now via satellite to the world.

新年习俗

• Spring cleaning is a common theme during this time, as many Chinese will clean out their homes during the holiday. The New Year celebration could even have been a way to break up the boredom of the long winter months.

• Though the holiday is only about a week-long, traditionally it is a 15-day holiday during which firecrackers are lit, drums can be heard on the streets, red lanterns glow at night, and red paper cutouts and calligraphy hangings are hung on doors. Celebrations conclude on the 15th day with the Lantern Festival.

• 除夕夜 - dinner with family and friends. All night celebrations.

• 初一 - Wear new or red clothing. Go to the temple.

• 初二 - Sons-in-laws pay respect to their in-law families

• 十五 - Lantern Festival

团圆• Chinese New Year is the world’s largest human

migration as Chinese workers travel home to their families.

•

• The world record for most texts sent in a day is broken each year during Chinese New Year. The current record stands at 19 billion.

• Last year, China Mobile, the country’s main operator, reported figures of up to a billion SMS messages being sent and received during the peak hours of New Year’s Day.

• More than 481,000 messages were sent in the first minute of the new year, with 32,312 messages-per-second on average during that minute.

新年习俗• Children are also given red envelopes with money

inside. People who are not married will also receive red envelopes with money. Many cities around the world also hold New Year parades complete with a dragon and lion dance.

年菜• Food is an important component to New Year.

Traditional foods include nian gao or sweet sticky rice cake and savory dumplings - which are round and symbolize never-ending wealth. Other food: fish for wealth, oranges for good luck.

年菜

( 年的故事 )

• 年• 年 兽

庆祝新年

• Celebration of Chinese New Year around the world.

新年歌(恭喜恭喜)

Chinese New Year Sayings新年快乐！ 龙年行大运！Xīn nián kuài lè ！ Lóng nián xíng dà yùn!新年好！ 恭贺新禧！Xīn nián hǎo! Gōng hè xīn xǐ ！

恭喜发财！ 万事如意！Gōng xǐ fācái! Wàn shì rú yì!红包拿来！ Hóng bāo ná lái!

1.30 Exit Ticket: Directions: Answer the questions in complete sentences.

1) Under what month does Chinese New Year typically fall on?

2) List 5 Chinese New Year Traditions. 3) What other countries also celebrate the Lunar New Year? 4) What is the difference between our New Year and Chinese

New Year?5) What is “Spring Cleaning”? 6) What food is typically included in Chinese New Year? 7) What type of presents are received around this time? (Who

receives the presents?) 8) List one Chinese New Year Saying.