Reflections on the Chinese New Year Festival (part 3)

5. About Staying Up on New Year’s Eve (守歲 shǒu suì)

Staying up on New Year’s Eve is widely known, and everyone understands it as not sleeping through the entire night of Lunar New Year’s Eve, also called “going through the whole year.” From the structure of the character “歲” (year), it appears as a great deity with one foot above and one foot below, carrying a halberd on the shoulder. Some say this deity is Jupiter; others say it is the deity in charge of the year. The second explanation better aligns with traditional Chinese belief. Each year, there is a deity on duty, holding the power of life and death, hence carrying a weapon. This deity is constantly patrolling, which is why it has two walking feet. This is the Year Deity, also called Tai Sui (太歲) in China, the most powerful deity of the year.

The oracle bone script of “歲” (year)

Thus, midnight (24:00) on Lunar New Year’s Eve is the moment when the old and new Year Deities hand over duty. For people, this is naturally important and must be marked with rituals. The food offered in sacrifice is dumplings. If one wishes to show respect, one should not leave the altar, but remain there after burning incense. The longer one stays, the deeper the reverence. If one persists until dawn, that is called “守歲 (shǒu suì),” and it is believed that the new year will surely bring good fortune and auspiciousness.

About Lucky Money (壓歲 yā suì)

“壓歲 (yā suì)” is also very familiar when children receive lucky money from elders during the Chinese New Year. People always misunderstand “壓” as suppressing, and “歲” as Tai Sui. However, Tai Sui, as gods, cannot be “suppressed.” In fact, the correct term should be written as “壓祟” (also pronounced as yā suì), meaning to suppress malevolent forces. Why can money serve this purpose? Because money can purchase high-quality offerings. By using these offerings to worship righteous deities, those deities can help eliminate evil spirits. That is the underlying logic.

Anonymous (traditionally attributed to the Ming dynasty), detailed, Immortals of the Sixty Jiazi (Tail Sui), ink and color on silk handscroll, 26 × 1362 cm, collection unknown

Ⅲ. Correctly Understanding the Meaning of the Chinese New Year

Correctly understanding the meaning of the Spring Festival is extremely important. Compared with simply eating good food and drinking alcohol, it is of an entirely different significance. Proper understanding of the Spring Festival includes at least the following aspects:

1.
It helps us infer by analogy and correctly understand the meaning and connotations of all traditional festivals. If one deeply understands the Spring Festival, other festivals can also be understood.


2.
It helps us gain a deeper understanding of traditional culture. Through celebrating traditional festivals, we can pass on the spirit of Chinese traditional culture.


3.
It helps educate our descendants. Festivals are times for family reunions and excellent opportunities to pass down traditional values, enabling future generations to truly understand benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness—and to practice them in unity of knowledge and action. Children are the true future of the Chinese nation.


Attributed to Qiu Ying, New Year Scene (Suichao Tu), ink and color on silk, Ming dynasty

4.
It promotes cultural exchange among diverse peoples worldwide. The Chinese New Year is not only celebrated by the Han people; many ethnic groups and countries around the world also celebrate it. This festival becomes a platform for multicultural exchange, allowing people worldwide to understand Chinese culture while also giving us the opportunity to learn about other cultures and prosper together.

5.
More importantly, it helps preserve the roots of our national culture.

Completed.