The ABC Guide to Studying Abroad in Taiwan: 新年快樂！

祝大家羊年大吉！

Happy Year of the Goat everybody!

So as you may or may not know, in addition to the Gregorian (or Western) calendar, the Chinese also follow their own calendar, a lunisolar calendar. For all you Chinese readers out there, this type of calendar will probably be very familiar to you.

With each month page looking something akin to this:

Sorry, I couldn't find an image similar to the style of the full-length monthly calendar above

If you are unfamiliar with Chinese calendars, then this probably looks like a standard Gregorian calendar albeit (much cuter and) with Chinese written on it. The Chinese written under each date is actually the corresponding lunar date so under January 2 (January 1 is marked as New Year's) has 十二--12--marking it as the 12th of November, January 3 has 十三, marking it as the 13th of November, and so on and so forth. Therefore in following with the Chinese calendar, today, February 19th, marks the Lunar New Year (January 1 according to the lunisolar calendar). Hopefully this picture makes things a little clearer:

Because the lunisolar doesn't align perfectly with the Gregorian calendar, Chinese holidays will often be described as occurring on the ___day of the ___lunar month, so for example, the 15th day of the 1st lunar month (Lantern Festival) as opposed to saying January 15th (which fell on February 14th of the Gregorian calendar in 2014, but will fall on March 5 this year). Does this make sense yet? In short, the Chinese do follow the Gregorian calendar--they just also happen to follow a lunisolar one as well.

About Chinese New Year

Although other East Asian countries also celebrate the Lunar New Year (for example, in Korea, the Lunar New Year is known 설날 seollal), for the purposes of this blog I will be talking about Chinese customs in relation to the New Year (also note that when I say "New Year" I am referring to Chinese New Year, unless otherwise noted).

Although here in Chinatown in New York, the New Year's celebrations only last a few days at most, traditionally Chinese New Year celebrations last for 15 days, culminating with the Lantern Festival. Known in Chinese as 春節, literally Spring Festival, Chinese New Year is a time to gather with family, eat, pray, and celebrate with lion dances and firecrackers, although within the various regions of China and Taiwan, specific customs and traditions may differ. As with the Gregorian New Year in the States, Chinese New Year is a public holiday for the Chinese and people will be off from work and school (not for all 15 days though!) (on a side note, when I went to school in Chinatown, we got Chinese New Year off ^-^).

If you've ever been to Chinatown, you've probably seen these on the door or window of many stores:

The character 福 means good luck

Often, the character will be hung upside down, like so:

In Chinese the phrase, 福到--luck has arrived, sounds a lot like 福倒--luck upside-down, hence many people will hang the sign upside down in order to ensure the arrival of luck. Of course, there is a plethora of other phrases hung up in addition to 福:

Chinese greetings and proverbs are usually four characters long

There are even themed ones to fit the animal of the year--in this case, sheep (or ram or goat, whichever you prefer):

As I've mentioned, New Year's is a time to gather with family--known as 拜年 or paying a New Year's call. In addition to paying respect to your relatives, you will also have to pay respect to your ancestors, whose altars will be set up with food offerings.

This spread of food will range from fruits to sweets to full out meals. Some symbolic dishes include dumplings (to represent money) and fish (to represent surplus).

And of course, we can't talk about New Year without talking about

Red envelopes! 紅包 (or 利是 for all you Canto speakers out there). Red envelopes are traditionally given on wedding days, birthdays, and New Year's. Although they are called red envelopes, they don't necessarily have to be red; they can be gold, pink, purple, etc...Red is the most common color however, as it represents good luck and is thought to keep away evil spirits. They are usually given by married people to the unmarried (or elderly to young). In all likelihood, you would only receive bills/notes and no coins in your red envelopes and no amount with the number 4 in it (四--4--sounds a lot like 死--death--and hence is deemed unlucky). Sometimes relatives will give you two red envelopes--one with your New Year's money and another, with $8 for good luck (八--8--sounds similar to 發，short for 發財， meaning prosperity or wealth). When you receive a red envelope, it is customary to accept it with both hands--don't forget to thank the giver and wish them a happy new year--and not to open it in front of them out of courtesy.

And just for fun, one (of several) cheeky ways to ask for a red envelope (don't really do it though unless it's to friends!):

恭喜發財，紅包拿來 (Mando: Gōngxǐ fācái, hóngbāo ná lái, Canto: gung1 hei2 faat3 coi4 hung4 baau1 naa4 loi4)

Happy New Year Everyone!