恭喜發財 (Gōng xǐ fā cái, or as I would say it, Kiong-hí hoat-châi) !
One version of the mythological origin of Chinese New Year that we were taught as kids goes like this. There was a beast called "Nien" that came every 12 months to eat people in the village when they were asleep. Years went by until somebody discovered the secret that Nien is afraid of loud noises and the color red, so people started to light firecrackers and put on as much red as possible on their door and on their body (clothes). The term 過年 (Guo Nien) means surviving Nien, and later transformed its meaning into "passing the year". This is why the word "year" is "Nien".
It's a new year of rabbit, and all my "rabbit" friends are either 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, or 108 years old. It's their year. (OK, I don't really know anyone in person who's 0 or 108 years old).
Being the most important festival in East Asia, Chinese New Year comes with a lot of traditions and legends.
Some Chinese New Year Traditions
Like the idea of Twelve Days of Christmas, the traditional celebration of Chinese New Year lasts for half a month (thus the importance of it), and each day has its own ritual:
Approaching the end of the year, companies will treat their employees with a big dinner, to thank them for their contribution before they go home to prepare for the New Year.
Before the Chinese New Year's Eve, people do extensive house cleaning so the living environment can fit the theme of "new", for which, people also buy new clothes, and all sorts of commodities.
The New Year's Eve dinner is symbolically important for family member. During this winter night, family members working out of town will will also come back to eat the dinner "around the fireplace". Spending the last moment and the first moment of a year with family members shows the family value of traditional Chinese culture. The names of the dishes all bear homophones to symbolize good fortune for the new year.
Speaking of symbols, during the Chinese New Year, people avoid anything negative -- good names for dishes, good attitude toward each other, and everything that happens is interpreted positively. For example, if something breaks, by custom people will say "Sui Sui Ping An" (Safety and Peace be with us every year) because the word "break" and the word "year" are both pronounced as "Sui". Guess what as kids we did when we knew for sure that we wouldn't get into trouble by breaking bowls during Chinese New Year.
Then after the dinner, people stay up on the New Year's Eve to celebrate the very first moment of the New Year with firecrackers. Kids are given money in red envelopes to put under their pillows for the night ("you are now one year older and you need to learn about saving the money for the next year").
The actual New Year's Day is usually filled with visits to various temples to pray for the good fortune for the coming year (in a non-religious sense).
The second day is reserved for married daughters to bring their new family to their parents' home. For kids, after receiving the "red envelope" from the grandparents on the father's side, this is the day to double their savings by getting more from those on the mother's side.
And then each day after that until the fifteenth has its specific customs.
The fifteenth day of the New Year, the Lantern Festival, has a full moon (Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar) and it's a perfect evening to hang out in the neighborhood. Besides eating delicious Yuanxiao (glutinous rice balls), communities hold lantern riddle contests, in which they have the riddles tied to the lanterns and whoever gets the right key wins prizes. It's a very fun social event.
The Origin of Chinese New Year
One version of the mythological origin of Chinese New Year that we were taught as kids goes like this. There was a beast called "Nien" that came every 12 months to eat people in the village when they were asleep. Years went by until somebody discovered the secret that Nien is afraid of loud noises and the color red, so people started to light firecrackers and put on as much red as possible on their door and on their body (clothes). The term 過年 (Guo Nien) means surviving Nien, and later transformed its meaning into "passing the year". This is why the word "year" is "Nien".
A few years ago I composed/arranged a piece, featuring some Chinese New Year folk songs, for a flute chamber group to perform in a Chinese New Year Festival event. "What is Thing Thing Called Nien?" tells a story: people are excited about the coming of the spring and are busy preparing for it. When they fall into sleep (with snorting) during the night, Nien creeps into their nightmares (cello). People then come together to fight it together, by Lion Dance. The two animals wrestle with each other (the swing jazz part); Nien loses and runs away, its tail hidden between its rear legs, while people announce the victory with Chinese cymbals (simulated with unison playing a traditional motif). Then people celebrate it by having a big parade, which then goes to the next village to tell them about the good news (music fades out).
http://www.personal.psu.edu/txl20/files/WhatIsThisThingCalledNien.mp3
I may have a live video recording of this. If I find it, I'll post it back here.
Thanks for posting this. I feel I know a lot more about the holiday now.