the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Chinese New Year, also referred to as Lunar New Year, is the Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. The festival is usually referred to as the Spring Festival in mainland China, and is one of several Lunar New Years in Asia.
The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, has more than 4,000 years of history and is the longest holiday of the year. In the 21st century, the national holiday begins on the first of the Lunar Calendar and lasts until the 15th of the first month. In 2020, Chinese New Year begins on January 25th and ends February 8th.
This year is the year of the Rat is the first of all zodiac animals. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. The Rat tricked the Ox into giving him a ride. Then, just as they arrived at the finish line, Rat jumped down and landed ahead of Ox, becoming first.
The Rat is also associated with the Earthly Branch (地支—dì zhī) Zi (子) and the midnight hours. In the terms of yin and yang (阴阳—yīn yáng), the Rat is yang and represents the beginning of a new day.
In Chinese culture, rats were seen as a sign of wealth and surplus. Because of their reproduction rate, married couples also prayed to them for children.
Recent years of the Rat are: 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020.
There are multiple blessings and greetings for Chinese New Year. But there are variations even for the most basic “Happy New Year!”
The simplest is, of course, Happy New Year: 新年快乐 (xīn nián kuài lè)
China also contains many dialects, such as Cantonese, Shanghainese and the Beijing dialect. And those dialects don’t include the languages of China’s 55 ethnic minorities.
A European scholar once said that if every dialect regions became a separate country, this area would have more countries than Europe. Northerners and Southerners can rarely understand each other, even though the same written language is used.
Other than Mandarin (standardized Chinese), the most well-known Chinese language is probably Cantonese. It’s more difficult for foreigners to learn. English isn’t a tonal language. Mandarin has 4 tones. And Cantonese has 9.
But if you wish to learn, “Happy New Year” in Cantonese is pronounced: san1 nin4 faai3 lok6!
- 春节快乐 (chūn jiē kuài lè)
Happy Spring Festival in Mandarin. - ceon1 zit3 faai3 lok6!
Happy Spring Festival in Cantonese.
You can also say春节愉快 (chūn jiē yú kuài), which uses a more formal way to say “happy.” In Cantonese, it’s: ceon1 zit3 jyu4 faai3
In Cantonese-speaking regions, it’s more popular to say恭喜发财(gung1 hei2 faat3 coi4). This is a blessing for wealth and prosperity. The phrase is also used in other regions (Mandarin: gong xǐ fā cái). But the Cantonese like to say this in place of the usual “Happy New Year.”
