The Chinese New Year is traditionally linked to several beliefs, customs, rituals and superstitions. People consider this season as an occasion to honour ancestors as well as Chinese deities. Although the style of celebration varies considerably in different parts of China, similarities also can be pointed out. The reunion dinner, which is held on the eve of the Chinese New Year is considered the primary one among the customs. Apart from this, the decorations used for beautifying the houses and premises are another important aspect of celebrations. It is said that each of the decorations has special meanings, myths and superstitions associated with them.
Chinese New Year can be called a festival of colours and decorations. It is the season every Chinese house and premises, towns, villages, buildings and doors, all get an adornment of colourful decorations. From the first glance, it is easy to notice that the decorations are totally dominated by the colour red.
The Symbolism of Red Colour
The Chinese New Year is a celebration of red. The red colour variant associated with Chinese culture is called ‘vermillion’. The use of vermillion signifies the ‘blazing fire’ according to Chinese concepts. It symbolises good luck, prosperity and happiness. Red is also accepted by the Chinese government as the official colour to use in government documentations in recognition of the affinity of Chinese population to red colour.
The Chinese explanation for their historic attachment with red colour always leads to a legend that hints the power of this colour to scare away evil spirits. According to a myth associated with the origin of Chinese New Year, the significance of red colour is connected to an aquatic beast that used to trouble the peaceful lives of an ancient Chinese village. Every year during the nights of the harvest season, this monstrous beast named Nian used to attack the village, and eat the villagers, especially the children. One day when the villagers went into hiding to escape from the Nian’s attack, an old wise man appeared in front of them. To help the villagers from the attack of Nian, the wise man put red decorative papers up around the village, lit up red lanterns, and set off firecrackers. This act prevented the beast from entering the village as it was afraid of red colour and loud blasting sounds. The villagers followed this method during the harvest season to scare off the beast, and years later these activities gradually developed into a festival.
Chinese Red Lanterns
Multitude of flying red Lanterns are another exhilarating attraction during the Chinese new year. Every town, street, villages, houses and every nook and corner of the country get the adornment of red lanterns during the Chinese New Year and other festivals. The origin of the red lanterns can also be traced to the above mentioned story of Nian, the watery beast. It is believed that the display of red lanterns will frighten the monster and will protect the people from the danger of dark forces and evil spirits.
Historically, Chinese lanterns were invented during Han dynasty (AD2-220). They were primarily used as a source of light as well as a symbol of Buddhist worship. As the time passed, when the electricity took over as the source of energy and light in the modern era, the lanterns began to be used for ceremonial purposes as well as celebrations. Nowadays, highly ornamented lanterns are usually hung at the entrance of the houses as a status , especially to show the wealth power of the family.
Please find our collection lanterns here.
Hanging Decorative Door Couplets
Wall hanging red coloured decorations featuring Chinese greetings in highly ornamental texts are another attraction during the Chinese New Year. The text associated with the hanging couplets can often be good luck greetings, messages symbolising prosperity and good luck or the greetings of the spring season. The writing pattern used for this ornamental texts are called Chinese calligraphy.
These door hanging decorations often come in pairs, due to the fact that the Chinese considers even numbers as luckier and auspicious. With this reason, the door welcome messages are designed in identical pairs and are called ‘couplets’.
Wall Hanging Decorations
The Chinese wall hanging decorations are not just the speciality of Chinese New Year, they are frequently sighted in every Chinese homes. But, these ornamentally designed wall decorations see a boost in sales during the Spring festival season.
The Chinese wall hanging decorations often feature items which are considered auspicious as per Chinese customs. These items are drawn, or weaved using highly decorative artistic style for the aesthetic appeal of the decorations. Some items which are frequently used as part of the decorations include lucky fruits, shape of red lanterns, deities of wealth and fortune, and so on. Shape of mandarin oranges, kumquat fruits, are some of the frequently depicted fruits as part of wall hanging decorations. These decorations mostly come with a calligraphic portrayal of Chinese good luck wishes and greetings like ‘Gung Hey Fat Choi’ (恭 喜 發 財), which means ‘Happy Chinese New Year, or ‘Wàn Shì Rrú Yì’ (万事如意), which is ancient Chinese saying meaning ‘may everything go your way’. Please see a collection of wall hanging decorations, which you can order online.
The ‘Fu’ Character(福)
Usually, the Chinese ‘Fu’ character ((福) which is a symbol of fortune or good luck as per the Chinese concepts, get a prominent position in these wall hanging decorations. Apart from this, the Fu character also is featured in the door couplets in order to welcome the guests. Fu is also the name of a Chinese male god. The figurines of this Chinese God ornamented with the Chinese letter ‘Fu’ are seen widely during the Chinese New Year as a symbol of fortune. Besides this, the ornamented Fu letter is often displayed upside down in diamond-shaped red decorations during this period. The upside-down posture of Fu characters symbolises the arrival of good fortune, and hence it is very significant as per Chinese traditions.
The associated belief of upside down portrayal of ‘Fu’ letter is something connected to the homonymic nature of the word. There is a legend about a Chinese family who accidentally hung the Fu decoration upside down during a guest’s visit. When the guests came, seeing the inverted fu character, they gladly shouted ‘Your Fu is Dao’. What they originally meant was ‘Your ‘fu’ letter is ‘inverted’, as dao meant ‘inverted’. But, as per Chinese language, ‘fu’ also fortune, and ‘dao’ also means ‘to pour out’. The host family interpreted the guests shouting as ‘Your luck is being poured (upon you)’. The second meaning got a wider appeal, and then the habit of hanging Fu character upside down became part of the culture later and became widespread. The Fu character is featured on our wall hanging decorations and Chinese lanterns, and also on lucky envelopes.
Chinese Firecrackers
Chinese firecrackers with loud banging noise and bright light are extensively popular during the Chinese new year previously. Although not used much in the cities of China due to safety reasons, firecrackers are still burst in villages and regions where they are legal. The origin of firecrackers can also be traced to the legend of the water monster Nian, in which the villagers burst noisy and bright firecrackers to frighten the monster away. The firecrackers also signify joy and happiness, along with the belief that they ward off evil spirits.
Red Envelopes
Exchanging red envelopes is part of Chinese new year traditions, and they also add colour to the décoration of the Chinese New Year . Many people like to hang Chinese new year envelopes from branches and on trees to decorate the house. As per the customs, in China, elderly people offer Red envelopes with money to children and teenagers. This is a very exciting time for children to collect as many red packets as they can and save the money away. In Singapore, married couple visit their unmarried friends and pass the red envelops that usually contain money as a tradition. The money given in the envelopes should be even numbered as it signifies good fortune. The number 4 is not a good number to put into the envelopes in China as it in Chinese, the number 4 sounds like death and is not a good omen. The belief is that the money added in the envelop is used to suppress the evil spirits.
Please find here our collection of lucky envelopes.
To conclude, there are many more colourful traditions and decorations to list which are linked to the Chinese new year. Special gift exchanges, special red coloured ethnic clothing, Chinese new year paintings, red paper cuttings and patterns heralding good fortune and prosperity, blooming flowers, etc are to name a few. We hope that you have been inspired to hang a few decorations during the festive Chinese New Year period.
