Reflections on the Chinese New Year Festival

I. The Origins of the Chinese New Year Festival

The Chinese New Year Festival is the most important festival of Chinese people and serves as a spiritual anchor of the Chinese culture. In this era, when Chinese culture has been fragmented under the impact of Western culture, Chinese people are familiar only with Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Carnival, and Halloween. Traditional Chinese festivals have long been forgotten, and only the Chinese New Year Festival still holds the last line of defense. It proclaims to the world this idea: the Chinese culture has not been completely wiped out—at the very least, the form of celebrating the Chinese New Year Festival has been preserved in China. Today, the Chinese people are also awakening, and festivals such as the Dragon Boat Festival and Qingming Festival have returned to our daily lives.

National festivals are rooted in the soil of national culture and belief. The Chinese culture is based upon and shaped by Daoist culture. When Chinese people celebrate Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Carnival, and Halloween, it is an irrational form of self-mockery. It is like crying uncontrollably over the death of someone else’s grandfather—more sorrowful than that person’s own descendants—which would be regarded as an incomprehensible mental disorder.

Yao Wenhan, Celebrations at the Beginning of the Year, Qing dynasty, Qianlong reign (1736–1795), ink and color on paper, 82.4 × 55 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

In ancient times, the Chinese New Year Festival was known as “元日 (yuán rì)” or “元旦 (yuán dàn)”. The commonly accepted view is that it originated during the time of Emperor Shun. Shun established “元日 (yuán rì)” to offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and to the God of the Year, a practice with a history of nearly five thousand years. Throughout successive dynasties, the festival was consistently called “元日 (yuán rì)”, “元旦 (yuán dàn)”, or “上日 (shàng rì)”. It was not until the Beiyang Government period, with the introduction of the Western calendar, that January 1 of the Gregorian calendar was legally designated as New Year’s Day, while the first day of the first lunar month became known as the Chinese New Year Festival.

The customs of the Chinese New Year Festival are widely known, so I will not dwell on them here. What I wish to discuss instead is a series of vague or confused understandings surrounding the Chinese New Year Festival, and I would like to share my views for discussion, respectfully inviting correction from experts.

II. Clarifying Misconceptions

1. On “Celebrating the New Year” 過年(guò nián)

   
   

This concept has been thoroughly confused among Chinese people—especially children—due to a legendary story. According to the legend, “年 (nián)” was a ferocious beast that would descend upon the human world on the first day of the lunar year to devour people. People therefore set off firecrackers to frighten it away. Such a bedtime story used by elderly women to coax grandchildren to sleep has nevertheless been treated as history and passed down, affecting generations’ understanding of the true meaning of celebrating the New Year.

The Otacle Bone Script of "年 (nián)"

According to the oracle bone script, the character “年 (nián)” is not a beast, but a combination of “grain (禾)“ above and “person (人)” below. In bronze inscriptions, it consists of “grain” above and “thousand (千)” below. Both are ideographic characters. “Grain” represents agricultural harvest, while “thousand” represents a large number of people (in oracle bone script, “千” depicts a human figure with an added horizontal stroke on the legs, symbolizing a group of people). Together, this character signifies a collective agricultural sacrificial celebration in which people raise grain offerings and pray for a good harvest in the coming year. This is the original meaning of the character “年 (nián)”.

The oracle bone script of "過 (guò)"

China has always been an agricultural civilization, so placing the year-end grand ceremony within the context of agricultural sacrifice is the most reasonable interpretation. In bronze inscriptions, the character “過 (guò)” is composed of leftover bones and a foot. The bones represent the result, and the foot represents the act of passing through, depicting the process by which slaughtered livestock turns from fresh meat into dry bones—that is, the process of consuming meat. This is the original meaning of “過 (guò)”. From its structure, it also implies that the stage of fresh meat has already passed; thus, “過 (guò)” also carries the meanings of “to pass” and “to exceed.” To exceed correctness is error, so “過 (guò)” also came to mean “fault” or “mistake.”

It is therefore evident that “過年(guò nián)” employs the original meaning of “過 (guò)” and refers to the process of consuming sacrificial offerings. Sacrifice itself is the process in which the gods partake first, followed by humans. Taken together, the accurate interpretation of celebrating the New Year should be understood as an agricultural sacrificial ritual.

To be continued.