The end of January is the end of the first month of the year for us, but for those celebrating Chinese New Year, it’s just the beginning. On Sunday afternoon, China welcomes the Year of the Ox at its annual Chinese New Year celebration. There will be a great bash featuring TV stars, political big wigs and hundreds of dancers. For the first time ever, this year’s official show will include a competition as well, according to “The Wall Street Journal.”
This 15-day celebration is said to bring growth, strength and stability, according to the Chinese horoscope. It is a period of great feast, with family and friends getting together to wish each other a happy, prosperous new year.
In Chinese culture, red is the most favorable color because people associate it with prosperity and joy. The Chinese people decorate their houses in red and gold for fortune and they also hang all sorts of red banners with their hopes and wishes for the New Year.
Cleaning the house is also a symbolic tradition, to sweep away the bad luck of the past year. But the Chinese do not throw out their trash until later in the holiday.
Other activities at the New Year celebration include crafts, live music, telling stories to younger children and presentations on subjects like "How to use chop sticks." Springfield artist Hing Wah Hatch will write children's names in Chinese calligraphy. Here people also learn how to make Chinese lanterns.
Students led by Nick Givens from the Fu Hok studio will also perform the ancient traditional Chinese lion dance. They have been part of the Chinese New Year celebrations at the Discovery Center for the past three years.
Tammy Wang, a member of the Kansas City Chinese Association said that in northern China, dumplings are a popular dish, while people in southern China prefer a sweet, sticky rice cake, eaten only during the Chinese New Year. Other foods which are traditionally served on Chinese New Year include oysters, which represent good fortune and success, fish, representing surplus, and lettuce, representing wealth, riches and prosperity.
Evil spirits are thought to be scared away by setting off firecrackers. Other ways to get rid of the evil spirits are the lion and dragon dances, which typically are performed at Chinese New Year events. The Shaolin Lohan Pai Lion Dance Troupe, one of the most popular troupes of the kind, will perform its annual dance at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
There will also be a Chinese costume fashion show and tours through Chinese galleries.
The event usually attracts 1,500 to 3,000 people each year but let’s see if the number remains the same this year, because the economic recession may steal some of the fizz from Lunar New Year toasts.
