what decorations do they use for chinese new year

What symbols and decorations represent Chinese New Year?

Here are eight symbols or items that bring good luck to families during Lunar New Year celebrations:Chinese symbols for luck. ... Three Chinese Lucky Coins. ... Bamboo plants. ... Red Pockets/Envelopes. ... Mystic Knots. ... Spring couplets. ... Plum and Peach blossoms. ... Red Chinese lanterns.

What Chinese decoration that we seen the most during CNY?

Although red lanterns are a mainstay during most prominent Chinese festivals and events like weddings, they are particularly popular during the Lunar New Year where they are hung in a pair outside the door of a home or shop.

What is the flower for Chinese New Year?

We can easily say that the most popular Chinese New Year's flower is the orchid. The orchid is considered as one of the four pivotal flowers in Chinese culture, along with bamboo, plum blossom, and chrysanthemum.

What do Chinese people put on their doors?

What's On the Door. The most common thing hung on the front door during lunar new year is a "couplet," or a poem-like phrase written in Chinese calligraphy. People typically hang one of these long, red banners on either side of the door.

What are the decorations commonly used during the Spring Festival?

5 Traditional Chinese New Year DecorationsSpring Festival Couplets. ... Fu Characters & New Year Paintings. ... Chinese Red Lanterns. ... Chinese Knots. ... Paper Cuttings. ... Auspicious Green Plants – Lucky Bamboo, Money Tree and Kumquat Tree. ... Beautiful Flowers – Butterfly Orchid, Peach Flower. ... Red Fabric Decorations.More items...•

What is the costume of Chinese New Year?

Chinese usually wear red or other brightly-colored clothes on New Year's Day, to go with the festive and upbeat mood. Red is China's good luck color, believed to scare away spirits of bad fortune. Some families wear traditional Chinese clothing like qipao or Tangzhuang.

What is the Chinese New Year decoration?

Another traditional Chinese New Year decoration is the paper cuttings and it’s a folk art to cut paper with scissors or cutting knife. The paper cuttings are usually pasted on the windows, doors or walls and they represent peoples’ good wishes to future life.

What are the best flowers to decorate for Chinese New Year?

The butterfly orchid, which blooms with grace and elegance exactly during Chinese New Year, is the first choice for people to decorate rooms.

What do Chinese people put up for New Year's Eve?

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, Chinese people always put up the New Year decorations about one week before. These include traditional decorations like Spring Festival couplets and Fu character pictures, which will be done on New Year's Eve. As time goes by, there are more and more modern decorations appearing in people's houses. However, red is still the dominant hue of the New Year. Hereunder are the most common 10 Chinese New Year decorations, 5 old vs. 5 modern ones. How much do you know about it?

What does the red lantern symbolize?

In Chinese people’s view, red lanterns symbolize family reunion, prosperity, happiness and vitality. On New Year’s Eve, a red lantern hanging in front of the door lights not only the dark night but also the hope ...

What is the meaning of the Chinese conifer?

The Chinese nick name of guzmania conifer has a meaning of “Lucky Strike”. Its red flower has been regarded as a lucky omen and it’s also a good plant to add festivity since the red is the theme color of Chinese New Year. 3. Red Fabric Decorations.

What do knots mean in Chinese New Year?

A variety of shapes of knots have different meanings and their names are always concerned with ‘safety’ and ‘auspiciousness’. So people love to use it to decorate rooms during the Chinese New Year for its good meaning and beautiful design. 5. Paper Cuttings.

What is the symbol of Chinese culture?

3. Chinese Red Lanterns. As a traditional folk handicraft, the Chinese red lantern now has been one of the symbols of Chinese culture and it’s also a necessary decoration in various festivals, especially in the Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

What is the most important decoration for Chinese New Year?

Another very important decoration central to Chinese New Year is the paintings . Usually minimalist and done with wood-based watermark, they’re known for their bright colors and their representation of different gods. Often, they’re painted next to each other are different doors.

What is the Chinese New Year?

Each Chinese New Year centralizes on one of the 12 zodiac signs, and families around the world find a way to incorporate that sign into decorations in any way they can. 2018 was the year of the dog, and 2019 is the year of the pig. If you’re looking to celebrate like a local, decorate your home with some symbolic images of this year’s zodiac.

What are couplets in Chinese poetry?

In traditional Chinese poetry, couplets are one of the most common ways in which poems are structured. The requirements of a couplet are strict — both lines must have the same number of characters, the tone pattern of one line must be the inverse of the following line, and the meanings of the two lines must be related. During the New Year, couplets are brushed on doors like traditional Chinese calligraphy. They usually speak to themes surrounding the welcoming of spring, harmony, and prosperity.

What are the most common decorations during the Spring Festival?

They’re found both within homes and outside hanging on street lights, trees, and office buildings. As the story goes, the horrendous monster called Nián would terrorize villages every 365 days, and the red lanterns were set out to drive him away and all the bad luck that accompanied him. The Lantern Festival at the end of the celebrations is definitely a sight to behold.

Why do people give knots to Chinese people?

In traditional Chinese cultures, knots have a long history as an integral part of traditions. Historians have discovered that prior to written language, many cultures used different knots to convey messages. Today, lovers often give knots as a symbol of commitment and dedication. They’re also used as a part of the New Year decorations to signify good luck.

What you should get for Chinese New Year decoration shopping?

What you should get for Chinese new year decoration shopping are: spring festival couplets, diamond- shaped red couplets, door gods couplets, paper cutting, red lanterns, new year paintings, lucky zodiac animals of the year, fresh lucky red flowers for the house, some region in china people will get Kumquat Trees for Wealth and Good Luck, among all of them the first five are the most important elements and indispensible. Most of the decoration materials are made red which is to be believed that red color had driven away the Nian monster in ancient time and brought good luck for people.

What color is the spring festival?

As you may have already noticed that during the spring festival season, there are various red colored decorations are on popular sale each year.

What is a couplet in Chinese?

You can also call it New Year couplets or chun lian in Chinese. They are red colored strips usually with black or golden Calligraphy Chinese characters written on them. Red colored dominated means luck and gold characters show wealth. A suite of spring festival couplets should have two longer strips for both side of the doorway, a shorter strip for door head and a diamond-shaped couplet which should be pasted in the middle on the door.

Why do you hang red lanterns on your door?

Get a few pairs of red lanterns to hang above your door or balcony is believed could drive away bad luck and evil sprites off your house. This is a very important element for the Chinese New Year decoration and those lanterns should keep hanging till the lantern festival ends.

Can you paste Chinese strip marks up side down?

If you don t know any Chinese and have difficult to locate the strip mark, well, as long as they are big fortune and good luck, it doesn’t matter whether they are on the right or left, does it? Just try your best not to paste them up-side down.

What is the most important aspect of Lunar New Year?

Family unity is the most important aspect of Lunar New Year, and for the Chinese roundness is symbolic of unity, which is why the all-important reunion dinner has to take place over a round table and oranges and pomelos are presented during the Lunar New Year.

Why do Chinese people wear red?

Any Chinese and Vietnamese community would be covered in red decorations during the Lunar New Year period as the colour is seen as auspicious and said to bring good fortune and prosperity. This is why most Chinese and Vietnamese families are seen wearing red outfits during Lunar New Year celebrations.

How long does Lunar New Year last?

Unlike with New Year in the West, the Lunar New Year festivities last for fifteen days. Most people have a week or two off from work, and students go on winter break for about a month.

Why do Koreans wear red?

For the Koreans, however, red is related to passion and is often only worn in sporting events. Instead of being draped in red, Koreans would often celebrate Seollal, their Lunar New Year, by wearing a traditional Hanbok with bright colours, as bright colours are said to symbolise hopes for a bright future.

What do people do on Chinese New Year's Eve?

Many worships on Chinese New Year's Eve, before the reunion dinner, to show that they are letting their ancestors "eat" first. Offerings of meat, wine, joss sticks, and joss paper are placed in front of the shrine/grave.

Where to go for Chinese New Year celebrations?

Generally, parks and temples are the best places to go for festive celebrations at Chinese New Year.

What is the Chinese custom of staying up all night?

This custom is called shousui (守岁/show-sway/‘to keep watch over the year’). In the past, Chinese people used to stay up all night, but now most stay up only until midnight firecrackers and fireworks die down.

Why do Chinese people sweep their houses?

The first house-sweep of the New Year:Chinese people don't clean their homes during the first two days of New Year, as sweeping then is believed to sweep away the good luck accrued by the litter of firecrackers, red paper, wrappers, and other evidence of celebration on the floor.

What are the activities of Chinese New Year 2021?

Chinese New Year's Eve  (Feb. 11, 2021): 7 Activities and Celebrations. 1. Putting Up New Year Decorations. Putting up spring couplets. Although some people decorate their houses several days before the festival, most people do it on New Year's Eve.

How long is Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year is celebrated for sixteen days (from Chinese New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival). The preparations start seven days before Chinese New Year's Eve. Many celebration activities for this period are traditional customs, but some are quite new...

Why do people put up ox on Chinese New Year?

Putting up those decorations is thought to keep evil away and pray for blessing, longevity, health , and peace . 2022 is the Year of the Tiger, so ox images will appear on decorations. Read more about the Top 7 Chinese New Year Decorations .

Why do people celebrate Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year celebrations were born out of fear and myth. Legend spoke of the wild beast Nian (which also is the word for “year”) that appeared at the end of each year, attacking and killing villagers. Loud noises and bright lights were used to scare the beast away, and the Chinese New Year celebrations were born. Today, the 15-day New Year festivities are celebrated with a week of vacation in metropolitan areas of China. Much like the Western New Year (January 1st), the biggest celebration is on the eve of the holiday. At the turn of the new year, firework displays are put on throughout the city.

What is the Chinese New Year festival?

Aside from New Year’s Eve, there are other important days of the 15-day Chinese New Year Festival, including: JIE CAI CENG: Welcoming the Gods of Wealth and Prosperity. On the fifth day of New Year’s, it is believed that the gods of prosperity come down from the heavens. Businesses will often participate in setting off firecrackers as they believe ...

What is the 15th day of Chinese New Year?

The 15th day of the New Year is known as the Festival of Lanterns and marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. All types of lanterns are lit throughout the streets and often poems and riddles are often written for entertainment. There are also paper lanterns on wheels created in the form of either a rabbit or the animal of the year ...

How long is Chinese New Year?

Today, the 15-day New Year festivities are celebrated with a week of vacation in metropolitan areas of China. Much like the Western New Year (January 1st), the biggest celebration is on the eve of the holiday.

What does the color red mean in Chinese culture?

The color red denotes good luck/fortune and happiness/abundance in the Chinese Culture and is often worn or used for decoration in other celebrations. The dragon is present in many Chinese cultural celebrations as the Chinese people often think of themselves as descendants of the mythical creature.

How many days does it take to cook Chinese New Year's Eve?

Chefs are often busy running from one home to another cooking dinners for different families on New Year’s Eve. Chinese New Year is a 15-day celebration and each day, many families rotate celebrations between homes of their relatives.

Where do families celebrate New Year's Eve?

Typically, families gather at a designated relative’s house for dinner, but these days, many families often celebrate New Year’s Eve dinner at a restaurant. Many restaurants require reservations months in advance. There are also some families that hire a professional chef to come cook at their house.