The new year of the Chinese calendar begins

The Year of the Tiger begins on February 1, 2022. In China, the New Year period is the longest and most important holiday period. The festival lasts a fortnight, from New Year's Eve dinner to the Lantern Festival which closes the festivities.

 

On New Year's Eve, the traditional dinner/reception brings families together. An elaborate dinner is the key to the celebration. Food is not only served to satisfy appetites, but is also loaded with symbolic meaning.

 

Traditional dishes for New Year's Eve dinner include dumplings and fish. Eating dumplings means bringing more wealth in the new year, and their round shape symbolizes "reunion". The word "fish" in Chinese is a homophone of the word "surplus", so the presence of fish at the New Year's meal guarantees that there will be a surplus throughout the year.

 

Regarding fruits: oranges symbolize happiness and wealth, tangerines represent luck. The apples

symbolize peace, the watermelon is a symbol of fertility and abundance, the pineapple symbolizes luck, the grapes and plums symbolize prosperity, and the golden color of the kiwi represents metallic gold. The most popular fruits are round, golden and red in color.

 

The New Year is also called the "Spring Festival", a term that is more symbolic of "waiting for the arrival of spring", as many parts of China experience wintery conditions in February.

 

 

source : chinadaily.com., chinahighlights.com, voyageschine.com, wikipedia