Chinese New Year decorations
Prior to New Year's Day, Chinese families decorate their
living rooms with vases of pretty blossoms, platters of oranges
and tangerines and a candy tray with eight varieties of dried
sweet fruit. On walls and doors are poetic couplets, happy
wishes written on red paper. These messages sound better than
the typical fortune cookie messages. For instance, "May
you enjoy continuous good health" and "May the Star
of Happiness, the Star of Wealth and the Star of Longevity
shine on you" are especially positive couplets.
New Year's Couplets
New Year's couplets, written on two strips of red paper,
are an important custom of the Chinese Spring Festival. On
the lunar New Year's Eve, families in both urban and rural
areas make it a point to grace their gate posts or door panels
with the couplets, composed of two sentences that complement
each other and often rhyme expressing their hopes for the
coming year.
paper-cuts
Today in China, paper cuts have special significance on festivals
and holidays. It is customary, for instance, to decorate entrances
with paper cuts during the Spring Festival to celebrate the
new year. The paper cuts are supposed to bring good luck.They
adorn walls, windows, doors, columns, mirrors, lamps, and
lanterns. They are also used to decorate presents or are given
as presents themselves.
New Year's Paintings
New Year's paintings are a type of Chinese folk art that
draws inspiration from the rural landscape and expresses traditional
notions of what is important in life, such as prosperity and
babies. During the Spring Festival, many Chinese people pin
up a few New Year's paintings in their living rooms to bid
farewell to the old year and greet the new.
Plants and Flowers
 Every
traditional Chinese household should also have live blooming
plants to symbolize rebirth and new growth. Flowers are believed
to be symbolic of wealth and high positions in one's career.
Lucky is the home with a plant that blooms on New Year's Day,
for that foretells a year of prosperity. In more elaborate
settings, plum blossoms just starting to bloom are arranged
with bamboo and pine sprigs, the grouping symbolizing friends
&endash; the plum blossom also signifies reliability and
perseverance; the bamboo is known for its compatibility, its
utility and its flexible stems for furniture and other articles;the
evergreen pine evokes longevity and steadiness. Other highly
prized flowers are the pussy willow,azalea, peony and water
lily or narcissus.
The Chinese firmly believe that without flowers, there would
be no formation of any fruits. Therefore, it is of the utmost
importance to have flowers and floral decorations.
They are the emblems of reawakening of nature, they are also
intimately connected with superstition and with the wish for
happiness during the ensuing year.
Candy Tray
The candy tray arranged in either a circle or octagon is
called "The Tray of Togetherness" and has a dazzling
array of candy to start the New Year sweetly. After taking
several pieces of candy from the tray, adults places a red
envelope (lai see) on the center compartment of the tray.
Each item represents some kind of good fortune.
TaoBao Decoration!
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