Xin Nian Kuai Le!
That means Happy New
Year in Chinese and is reserved merely for the Spring Holiday use. The
Chinese New Year is the only real new year in this culture. Chinese
people live following two different calendars, the solar calendar
(which we use in the West) and the lunar calendar. In cities people
live following the solar calendar, but in the rural areas farmers
follow only the lunar calendar.
Living by two different
calendars is an interesting phenomena, because you always have two
different dates every day.. Confusing? Yes, I think so! So: the solar
calendar as we all know always follows the same idiot-proof system
regularly: a month begins with the 1st day and continues
on to 2nd, 3rd and so forth. But the lunar
calendar is random and it starts from a different date every month:
for instance this February started with the 1st day of the
solar calendar but the same day was the 13th day of the
lunar calendar. Most relevant difference however is the New Year: in China it's usually in February.
So the traditional
Western new year, the solar calendar one, has no real meaning to the
Chinese people. As their culture is ancient and the western modern
inventions have only started to flow to China a few decades ago, it
makes sense that the people still value the lunar calendar more. It
was essential to the farming and country life, and still is the calendar to follow in every Chinese household. Though China
is modernizing now its roots are strongly in the old days when
farming was the only way to provide a life for the families.
The Spring Festival is
awaited with great anticipation by simply everyone from a toddler to
great-great grandparents. And it shows: people plan get-togethers
with their entire families including all ages and remote family
members. My school started organizing our party months before the
actual event, which shows how very important this time of the year
is. The show must be a success, reaching perfection. In fact our
school's party was more like a festival: a whole day full of singing,
dancing, plays and activities for the families. Many parents offered
to join in the show as they wanted their children to see them singing
and dancing and to be proud of them. The rehearsals went on
feverishly until the very moment we all stepped on the stage!
Which brings me to my
part in the show: a couple of months before the big day I was asked
if I would mind participating in the program. I obviously gladly joined in,
and so they asked me to sing a song. Don't get me wrong: I do not
possess a magnificent singing voice, that is not the reason they
asked me to sing! But as I am the only and first foreign teacher this
school has ever had, it meant a lot to them to have me sing a Chinese song in front of all the students and their
families. And mind you, I'm not one to shy away from attention nor am
I normally self-conscious! So to be the starlet of the day sounded
pretty good to me – especially after I asked to wear a
traditional Han dynasty dress and they said “yes”! I was looking
forward to the main event!
Learning the actual
song, Mo Li Hua (Jasmine flower), was not a big deal as it was quite
easy for me. Thank goodness for my linguistic abilities! I practiced
the song many times on my own and luckily so, as the two weeks leading to the
actual new year's party were somewhat insane and I would simply have
had no time left to learn lyrics: everyone running around practicing
their shows every day – we were rehearsing more than doing the
actual teaching to be honest. Which was all good fun and a
once-in-a-lifetime moment for me! I particularly enjoyed the first
time I wore my Han dynasty dress in front of the great public and
heard all the “oohh's” and “aahh's”, I must admit.
The actual day of the
party was unlike anything I've ever seen. Chinese women don't
normally wear any make up, so to see everyone wearing glitter in
their eyes with fake eyelashes and these sensational storybook
princess dresses was something I didn't expect! Everyone looked
phenomenal and as we danced, sang, performed, smiled and delivered
not one but THREE shows of 2 hours+ in length throughout the day...I
think the ladies are superheroes. What fantastic team spirit! It was
heart-warming to feel like I was a part of it all :)
As for my performance,
I wasn't nervous about anything: which I guess isn't what you'd
expect from someone with an ordinary, flat, no-vocal-range singing
voice about to perform to almost 900 people. But luckily what I lack
in singing voice I make up for in heaps of self confidence and stage
presence; like a true diva I performed my song and the crowd loved
me. To sing a traditional Chinese song to a conference room full of
Chinese people, wearing an ancient dynasty dress, was surreal. I
loved it to the very last second! I don't think no matter how absurd China gets during my
first year here, this was my peak experience. I still can't believe it happened
and I'm so glad I got to experience that day and be a part of the
show. Words can't describe truly how it was. I hope pictures can give
an idea of how it was to be there that day :)
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| Our staff party: my second day performing Mo Li Hua |
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| On the stage with my beautiful dancers |
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| A lot of our teachers, but not everyone! |
After the party madness
faded it was time to get ready to truly celebrate the Spring
Festival: and that's done in the comfort of your home with the
numerous family members, grand parents, great grand parents, heaps of
cousins... Amazing lunch and/or dinner is prepared and it is eaten
for sometimes hours with the family members. Later on the New Year
Eve's Day (of the lunar calendar) all the Chinese people open their
TVs as the most important broadcast is starting: for the entire
evening the national Chinese TV broadcasting company is airing a show
with something for the whole family. Again there is singing, dancing,
comedy, magic tricks, acrobatic performances, even Beijing Opera!
This TV-show is to celebrate the New Year and is massively important:
everyone will be glued in front of their TVs for the full length of
it.
The remaining of the
Spring Festival time is even more leisurely: families enjoy the time
catching up with each other as everyone has come together from all over the country.
People from big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong,
Guanzhou, etc. travel to their families to smaller cities and rural areas. Most shops and restaurants are closed during the
holidays. Not to mention schools: they are closed for at least two
weeks.
So naturally I took the
opportunity to go traveling the great country of China! But that's a
story left for the next time.. :)
Xin Nian Hao!
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| My traditional Han dynasty dress, which I adore :) |
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