How to Celebrate Chinese New Year 2022 - Day by Day Guide

Do you think that Chinese New Year is just one day? No, it actually lasts 15 days, and you're supposed to do certain things beforehand to prepare for the New Year. Today, I'm going to go through what you're supposed to do each day leading up to and during Chinese New Year. Oh, and you may notice something different. I had a pretty rough first trimester, then I got really busy in my second trimester, and now I'm in my third trimester So I apologize for having ghosted the channel for a while. I'll be back, though. If you're interested to know what you should and should not eat while you're pregnant, I did a video on that on my cooking channel, Kind of Cooking. I've put the link in the description. So this year, Chinese New Year is on February 1st. So let's start a few days beforehand to see what you're supposed to do. One thing to note, China is huge, and there are many other countries that celebrate Chinese New Year. Most of the customs I'm talking about here are for Southern Chinese people. The 24th day is January 26th this year. It is This signifies the start of the New Year festivities. For Northern Chinese people, they even start a day earlier on the 23rd day. This day is also significant because it's Deep Fried Day. This is when you make all those New Year goodies It is believed that deep fried food will bring prosperity, so starting your fryer at the end of the year will make your coming year more prosperous. And it's a good excuse to make all your favorite foods. The 25th day is This just gets better and better. You should start preparing and steaming all your New Year cakes. Glutinous rice cakes, taro cake, radish cake. These can all last for a while and are great gifts for visiting family and friends. It was believed in ancient times that starting a fire during New Year's is bad luck, so people would prepare all the cakes in advance. The 28th day. Now we need to clean. Okay, it's not all just about food. In Cantonese, there's a saying called which translates to wash away the dirt on the 28th day. It is believed that cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the previous year and makes your home ready for good luck. This is also the time you put up your which are the decorative couplets on your doorframe. These usually have well wishes for the New Year written on them. 29th day. Now that you've cleaned the house, it's time to clean yourselves. Make sure you go and get your haircuts because cutting your hair during New Year's means cutting your luck away. And finish off whatever business you have because you're about to enter full holiday mode. The 30th day is Chinese New Year's Eve. The biggest event of this day is the annual reunion dinner, This meal is comparable to Thanksgiving dinner in the US. Various dishes with special meaning are served. In Northern China, it is customary to make Dumplings symbolize wealth because the shape resembles a gold ingot. In the South, it is customary to have glutinous New Year cake, which sounds like increasing prosperity year in, year out. Now for this year though, we don't have a 30th day. What? I guess it's kind of like in the Western calendar where there's a leap year and there's an extra day. For the Chinese calendar, well, it's based on moon phases and this year we have a small moon. So we get one less day but it's not like every four years like a leap year. The Chinese calendar is a little bit more complicated and we won't get into this in this video. But if you would like to learn more, you should watch this video. Okay, so this year's New Year's Eve will be on the 29th instead. So you have one less day to prepare. All right, the first day, Chinese New Year Starting at midnight, people light fireworks, burn bamboo sticks and firecrackers to chase off the evil spirits and welcome the new year. On New Year's Day, people will visit temples to worship gods and Buddhas and it's also time to honor one's elders and families by visiting the oldest, most senior member first and do Here, I want to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year and the best of luck for the year of the tiger. You should be rocking in your new clothes now which symbolizes a new beginning. Having enough to wear and use for the year. Remember how we were cleaning the whole house and washing ourselves thoroughly a couple of days before? You cannot do any of that right now because it is considered bad luck to wash your hair, do the laundry, sweep the floors and take out the garbage. That would be considered as sweeping your fortunes away. Now, on the second day, if you're married, it's time to visit your wife's family. So on the first day, you visit your husband's family and on the second day, your wife's. Lots of bailing going on and well, with lots of food and greetings. The third day is It is believed that on this day, we should because apparently, arguments tend to happen on this day. Well, I guess after all the family visits, you probably need a break. This is also a good day to go to the temple for worshiping. The fourth day is waiting for the arrival of the gods. This is a day when gods will enter your house and see who's there to give them blessings for the year. So you should have some food offerings and incense ready. The fifth day, So from day one to day four, you're not supposed to dump your trash because that would mean dumping your luck. But now it's day five and that trash has been accumulating there for a while. So it's time to clean. If you continue to keep your trash at home, then that's going to become poor energy. So dump that garbage out and clean your house. The seventh day, and it's everyone's birthday. It's believed that on the seventh day of the beginning of time, Nuwa created humans. So that's why it's called People's Day. It's a day where everyone should all be pleasant and respect each other because it's everyone's birthday. But shouldn't we do that every single day? Anywho, most people would be going back to work after this day, but the atmosphere will still be very festive and there will still be lots of food and visiting from now to the 15th day. So let's skip ahead to the 15th day, which is Yuan Xiao Jie Yun Xiu Ji. It marks the official end of Chinese New Year. For Yuan Xiao Jie, you must eat Tang Yuan or Yuan Xiao to symbolize togetherness. Many people may not see their families again for a year. So this would be a wish for them to come together again next year. This day is also celebrated as Lantern Festival. Many places have beautiful lantern displays at night and kids will often have their own lanterns that they carry around with them while visiting New Year markets and lantern displays. I've done a video on the origins of the Lantern Festival before. You can watch it right here. Now tell me in the comments below what traditions and customs you follow for Chinese New Year. Will you be adding any of these customs to your celebrations? Now I might not be showing up on YouTube for a while now as I get ready for the baby, but you can follow me on Instagram for the latest updates. Here, I wish you all a happy, safe and prosperous Chinese New Year. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.