Celebrating the Chinese Spring Festival is important for every Chinese family. People from different cities will go back to their families for the reunion.Kids also enjoy the festival because their parents have more time to play with them. Let's see some of the different ways our GOGOKIDs celebrate the Spring Festival!
Anan ( Fernando's daughter) "Celebrating SpringFestival With Tientsin's Specialities"
Anan is the daughter of Fernando and she is three years old. She usually celebrates Chinese New Year with her family in Tientsin. On New Year's Eve, she will have New Year's Eve dinner at her great grandma's house. The New Year's Eve dinner includes Tientsin's specialties - pulled noodles and big pot dishes.The big pot dishes are made of cabbage, pork, vermicelli, and tofu. During Chinese New Year, the elders give red envelopes to the children and the children have to wish their elders a happy new year before they receive the red envelopes.Since Anan is still young, her parents guide her to properly greet her elders. Anan also goes to the museum, children's playground, and the shopping mall with her parents during the festival.
Daniel (Peggy's son) "I can only eat dumplings at 12 o'clock"
Daniel is four years old. He returns to his father's hometown in Harbin for the Chinese New Year. On New Year's Eve, his family hung the red lanterns for a day and a night to herald a prosperous new year. The New Year's Eve dinner must be very generous, and leftovers are kept to herald the flourishing new year. Daniel usually eats pig's front hooves for New Year's Eve dinner, which symbolize bringing wealth to the family. In Harbin, Dumplings are made before 12 o'clock on New Year's Eve, and dumplings can be eaten only at 12 o'clock.Since Harbin is located in the northeastern part of China, where it is very cold and snowy during the winter,Daniel likes to go to the snow park with his family.
Eleanor (Sophie's daughter) "All the Wishes are Written in the Iron Flowers"
Eleanor is five years old and although she was born in Handan, she grew up in Beijing.For her New Year's Eve dinner, she always eats dumplings, crispy fish, and flower cake. Flower cake is Handan's traditional food, which is mainly made of flour and Chinese dates. The higher the cake is, the greater the improvement of the new year. Eleanor makes a flower cake with her grandma during the festival. On the first day of the lunar year,Eleanor needs to get up at 5 or 6 o'clock to visit her elders and wish them health and longevity. On the fifth day of the lunar year, all of the garbage needs to be removed, which symbolize sweeping-off poverty at the new year. There are many traditional festival shows in Handan, and Eleanor think the most impressive one is the iron flower playing--"Da Tie Hua". Da Tie Hua originated in the Northern Song Dynasty, and it uses more than a thousand degrees of iron water hitting on a ten meters high flower shed, which will form magnificent iron flowers in the sky. During the rest of festival, Eleanor likes to go to karaoke with her family.
Eason (Grace's son) "The Temple Fair is Waiting for me"
Eason is two years old, and he was born in Beijing. Since he is still young, he has never gone back to his old family for Spring Festival. Grace said when Eason gets a little bit older, she wants to take him to the temple fair and climb the hill. So far, Eason just plays games and makes dumplings with his parents. Like most kids in China, Eason receives new red clothes and red envelopes during the festival. During New Year's Eve dinner Eason usually eats noodles, which heralds fortune for the new year.
In China, different cities have their different traditions. However, this article mainly talks about the traditions in Northern China. If you want to learn more about the general traditions in china, please watch the wonderful video prepared by GOGOKID, which includes the members of GOGOKID home office and some of our lovely kids introducing other popular Spring Festival traditions.
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