Chinese New Year 2015

This unit teaches children about Cultural Diversity 

as we study Chinese Americans and the Lunar New Year Celebration.

2015 is the Year of the Goat* (Sheep or Ram)
according to the Chinese Zodiak Calendar and it runs 
February 19-March 5. 

Depending on what year you were born, in China, you are assigned an animal: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Cock, Dog, or Boar. It is felt growing up that you will have characteristics and personality similar to your birth year animal.

 
It was fun to meet all the animals: Oxes ( Zakai, Anna, Lena, and Miss Julie), Tigers (Ben, Eva, Tanner, Raegan, and Lukas ), Rabbits (Dexter, Harris, Luke, and Maelo), and Sheep (Miss Jessica.)

Do you know a Chinese Happy New Years Greeting?  
"Gung Hei Fat Choi!" (Kantonese)

Which means "Wishing You Prosperity and Wealth."

It is pronounced “Gong Xi Fa Cai” in Mandarin and “Gong Hey Fat Choy” in Cantonese, although both are written the same way. 

 We learned a few Chinese words, including:  
 hello--Nǐ hǎo (Nee how) and Thank you--Xièxiè (Shey Shey).   
The Chinese New Years Celebration is the largest holiday in China and lasts two weeks.

Toys:  Moon Sand and Zhu Zhu Pets.

Snack:  Orange slices, noodles, rice cookies, White Rabbit Candy, guava candy, Lychee jellies, and Fortune Cookies.

We practiced using our chop sticks! 

(The elastic and rolled up paper make learning chopsticks easier.  Ask your students to show you his/her skills! ) 

We enjoyed White Rabbit (creamy, milk) candies wrapped in rice paper--that we could eat!  We also tried noodles and talked about how the Chinese diet includes sea food, sea vegetables and sea weed, dumplings, rice cakes, fruit, and other feast favorites.

Tangerines and oranges are considered lucky at the New Year. They leave the stem and leaves on for a sign of "connectedness."

Finger Painting and Goat Coloring Page: We sent home a coloring page of lucky Chinese goats to take home and welcome in the Chinese New Year! (We finger painted in class and they will go home Tuesday).

As part of Chinese New Year, friends and family exchange lucky red envelopes.  Inside is usually money.  Today, we sent home a lucky envelope with your student.  * Parents, please review what a penny, nickle, dime, and quarter are worth.



As part of the celebration, we each got a pair of child friendly chopsticks (the paper and elastic makes them spring back--easier to use), a red envelope with a Fortune Cookie (invented by a Chinese American), and a lucky red envelop with cash inside.*

Contributions from China: Did you know the Chinese invented paper, silk, kites, noodles, and fireworks? Fortune cookies were invented by Asian Americans and are not found in China.

Red is a lucky color during the New Year Celebration and firecrackers helped scare away the mythical ancient beast, Nain. 

Chinese New Year Books:
A New Year's Reunion by YU Li-Qiong and Zhu Cheng-Liang (2012-Year of the Dragon)
The New Year Dragon Dilemma by Ron Roy, Ill. by John Steven Gurney. PCL
Light the Candle! Bang the Drum! A book of Holidays Around the World by Ann Morris and Peter Linenthal
The New Year Dragon Dilemma by Ron Roy; Ill. by John Steven Gurney PCL
Happy New Year, Julie (1974) American Girl. (This is for more advanced reading and pictures about the Chinese New Year. Julie celebrates with her Chinese American friend, Ivy). PCL

DVD:
American Cultures For Children: Chinese-American Heritage (Schlessinger Media) PCL

For more information, click on the red link--Chinese New Year 2015: 6 things you need to know about the Year of the Goat 

Local Chinese Activities:

Fireworks in Salt Lake-

Saturday Night, Acrobats from China perform in Murray.

Some Other Fun Tidbits: Goat or sheep?
2015 is the year of the goat, but you may see it referred to as the “Year of the Sheep” too.
The confusion stems from the Chinese character “yang”, which can translate in colloquial Chinese as either sheep or goat.
Those born in 1919, 1931, 1943, 1967, 1979, 1991 or 2003 are goats, who can count their lucky colors as brown, red and purple.
Their characters are supposedly kind and peaceable, while their best months are supposedly August and November and their lucky flowers are primroses and carnations.

WHEN IS CHINESE NEW YEAR?
In 2015, Chinese New Year falls on January 31st. It ends on February 14 which is also Valentine's Day.. Chinese New Year lasts for 15 days.
However, do take note that Chinese New Year has no fixed date. It is celebrated following the lunar calendar. The lunar calendar is calculated on the time the moon takes to go around the Earth. Emperor Shih Huang Ti introduced the animal zodiac cycle. There are a total of 12 animals in the zodiac cycle. According to the Chinese calendar, it takes sixty years and five cycles of twelve years each for a complete cycle. Chinese New Year usually falls in either January or February. 

Chinese New Year Dates and the related animal zodiac

2009 Jan 26 - Ox 2010 Feb 14 - Tiger 2011 Feb 3 - Rabbit 2012 Jan 23 - Dragon 2013 Feb 10 - Snake 2014 Jan 31 - Horse 2015 Feb 19 - Goat 2016 Feb 8 - Monkey 2017 Jan 28 - Rooster 2018 Feb 16 - Dog 2019 Feb 5 - Pig

HOW DO THE CHINESE CELEBRATE CHINESE NEW YEAR?

SPRING CLEANING

Spring cleaning is a must before Chinese New Year's Day. No sweeping is allowed on the first day of Chinese New Year as it is believed that you will be sweeping out all your goodluck or family fortune. 

REUNION DINNER

Family members will get together on the eve of Chinese New Year for is called the reunion dinner. This is the most important day of all. Some families prepare elaborate dinners while some will choose to have a steamboat dinner.
The steamboat dinner is a big pot of soup placed in the middle of the dinner table and lots of different kinds of foods like shrimps, fish, crabs, meatballs, fishballs, chicken meat, pork and vegetables are put into the pot of soup to cook. 

FIRST DAY OF CHINESE NEW YEAR

All debts have to be repaid by this time. There should also be no lending on this day as it is believed that it will put you in debt for the whole year.
Everyone is encouraged to speak only good and nice things on this day. Using inappropriate language is considered bad luck.
Children also get away with their misbehaviour on this day. Parents do not want to upset their children or make them cry as crying on New Year's Day is considered unlucky.
It is advisable to start the day off by consuming a bowl of sweet dessert called "tong sui" (syrupy sweet drink) in Cantonese. It symbolises starting the year off sweet and pleasant. 

The children will greet their parents and adults :

·  Gong Hei Fatt Choy (in Cantonese)

·  Gong Xi Fa Cai (in Mandarin)

·  Keong Hee Huat Chai (in Hokkien) 

The meaning of "Gong Xi" is congratulations while "Fa Cai" means be rich or prosperous. All the above have the same meaning. They only sound different.
New clothes and shoes are a must for Chinese New Year.
The younger generation will go visit their elder relatives and friends too. Married couples, will have to give a red packet called "Hong Pow" containing money inside to those who are not married and also to their parents.
The hosts will serve their guests all kinds of cookies and the Mandarin Orange. The Mandarin Orange is a symbol of prosperity.
 

SECOND DAY OF CHINESE NEW YEAR

The elder generation who stayed at home to welcome visiting relatives on the first day, will now visit their friends and relatives.

One of the things that most Chinese do during Chinese New Year is to play some card games. It is a favorite past time during this festive season of 15 days. The Chinese also like to set off lots of fireworks and firecrackers during this time. To find out the reasons for all the firecrackers and fireworks, go to our story section and watch the video of "Nian".