Chinese New Year 2022: What is a Water Tiger Anyway?

 2022 is the Year of the Water Tiger. What does that mean? The Chinese zodiac is based on 3 main elements: yin/yang, the five elements or wu xing, and the 12 zodiac animals. The zodiac rotates in a 60 year cycle to combine all the elements. How does this work? 

The yin and yang are important in Chinese thought. They are seen as the ever-changing nature of the universe with active energy--yang (represented by the white in the symbol) below and passive energy--yin (represented by the black in that symbol). All nature is seen as passing through cycles of active yang energy followed by passive yin energy. This is similar to the interplay between sunlight and shadow, the cycle of day and night, male and female energies. These are not oppositional forces in Chinese thought; they are complementary. The Chinese divide the 12 zodiac animals into pairs and designate the first of the pair as yang and the second as yin. 

The order of the animals is based on a tradition that Jade Emperor (or in some stories the Buddha) had the animals race to see who would be first. The Rat rode on the Ox until just before the finish line, when he leaped across to be the winner. The first pair of the Chinese Zodiac are the Rat (yang) and the Ox (yin). The rest of the animals are sequenced in the order that they placed in the race. The Boar is last because he stopped for a snack and again for a nap. 

Here are the six pairs based on the 12 animals: Rat/Ox, Tiger (yang)/Rabbit (yin), Dragon/Snake, Horse/Goat, Monkey/Rooster, Dog/Boar. 

The Five Elements are another concept of ancient Chinese thought. They represent phases in natural cycles, such as cycles of nature or human life cycles. They are also the building blocks of life. Each element in the cycle leads to the next, and if you put them in a circle the elements across from each other on the circle act in opposition to one another. In their order, they are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Water causes trees to grow, and the cycle starts all over again with more Wood. 

In the Chinese zodiac, each yin/yang pair of animals gets matched with one of the Five Elements at various times, as the Elements progress through their own cycle. These two cycles of 6 pairs of Zodiac animals times 5 elements creates the full 60-year Chinese Zodiac cycle. 

2020 was the Year of the Metal Rat, and 2021 was the Year of the Metal Ox. It is time for a new element as we come to the Yang partner of the next pair. The next element in the cycle is Water. So we get a Water Tiger Year. 

This year then has plenty of Yang energy, which will make it an active year. It also has plenty of Tiger energy. Tigers are brave, courageous, restless, loyal, and strong. They are the Kings of the Forest in Chinese mythology. Water is a symbol of change, which means that the year will be bring many changes. Water is also a symbol of wealth, which means that if people are strong and bold in 2022, they can change their monetary fortunes for the better. Most websites publishing Chinese horoscopes also warn that the activity of the Tiger combined with the changeableness of water mean that 2022 will be an exhausting  year. We will need to pay attention to maintaining our health to keep up with all the good changes that the year can bring us. 

Chinese New Year Traditions: Celebrating and Bonding with Family and Friends

Congratulations!! We all survived the Nian Beast last night, and here we are on the first day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. This is a day for family members to bond together. Parents and older siblings who work give younger generations and younger siblings gifts of money in red envelopes. Working people also give their parents and grandparents money in red envelopes. Everyone wears new, red clothes. No work is done, especially not sweeping. (You don't want to sweep away your luck.) Homes are decorated with plum blossoms and bowls of tangerines for luck. People eat lucky dishes, such as duck and chicken, nian gao (Year cakes), and assortments of dried fruits and candies set out in a dish with 8 compartments to join them all together. The focus is on strengthening familial ties and promoting health and prosperity. Much care is taken to ensure that young children do not cry. Eating sweet nian gao or chocolate candies shaped like traditional gold ingots helps keep children sweet and happy. At least it does, if they don't eat too many sweets.

If the weather permits, most families go out to a nearby park or recreation area in the afternoon of the first day of New Year's celebrations. You can see pictures of places that I went in Taiwan in previous posts on this blog. In northern China, it gets snowy and icy. Ice festivals are popular, especially the Harbin Ice Festival that runs for two months and overlaps the Chinese New Year. (See https://www.icefestivalharbin.com/ for more on that topic.)

Lego's 2022 Chinese New Year collection features an ice festival reminiscent of the Harbin extravaganza. Lego people do not need to social distance, and the Lego lion dancers also seem to have booked this gig.

The ice festival has it all... ice sculptures, skate rentals, people selling hot baked yams, ice fishing, and lion dancers on ice! You can also take your picture in a Year of the Tiger cut out. China takes off 3 full days for the Lunar New Year. On the first day of the New Year, families spend time with the husband's parents. On the second day of the New Year, families spend time with the wife's parents. On the third day of the New Year, people visit favorite relatives and friends. Some businesses in Taiwan stay closed for the full first week after the New Year. Parties and festivities continue for a full two weeks, even after most businesses have reopened. Chinese New Year officially ends with the Lantern Festival, which will be on February 15, 2022. 

Chinese New Year Traditions: Guo Nian, Gong Xi or "Congratulations, You Survived the Nian Beast"

On Chinese New Year's Eve, families gather together for New Year's Eve dinner, which is a great feast that I have written about in previous posts. After dinner, they usually watch New Year's specials on TV until a few minutes before midnight. Right around midnight they go outside to pray for good luck in the coming new year, and to make a lot of noise to scare away the Nian Beast. 

The family in the 2021 Lego set is assembled outside right before midnight. They have already set off a few bottle rockets, and they are preparing to light the big string of fire crackers hanging from their door at the stroke of midnight. They also have firepots to keep warm and more bottle rockets ready for the midnight battle with the Nian Beast.

In some places, lion dancers go out in the streets late at night to participate in the noisy midnight celebration. Our Lego lion dancers are all set up for their performance along the main street of the village.

According to legend, at the stroke of midnight, the Nian Beast will come to eat the villagers and destroy their homes. By making noise and burning fires, the villagers hope to scare the Nian Beast and "guo nian" or survive the Nian Beast for another year. 

The Nian Beast arrives at the stroke of midnight. It faces lion dancers, people dressed as animals from the Chinese zodiac, and families with fire pots, bottle rockets, and loud strings of firecrackers popping over their entries. Everyone is screaming and making noise. The lion dancers get into the Nian Beast's face. They are supported by the loud drumming and clashing cymbals from their musicians. 

The noise hurts the Nian Beast's ears, and the fires and lion dancers scare him. He turns around and runs back to his lair in the mountains. 

Everyone congratulates each other for surviving the attack of the Nian Beast. Then, they all go to bed because they want to have fun going out with their families on Chinese New Year's Day. (The lion dancers will have another gig...) "Surviving the Nian Beast" is supposed to be the reason that Chinese people say "gong xi" or "congratulations" to each other on Chinese New Year. 

Chinese New Year Traditions: Getting Ready

 Chinese New Year is almost upon us. The Year of the Ox will leave, and the Year of the Tiger will begin at midnight February 1. According to tradition, families are supposed to clean their houses well. Red paper strips with lucky sayings written in calligraphy are pasted across the top of the door and on each side doorpost. Red lanterns are hung in the doorway, if the entrance allows it. People buy new, red clothes, and make lots of good food. A favorite is "year cake" or "nian gao," which is made with sticky rice. Of course, Chinese New Year 2022 is happening in the midst of a pandemic surge, and for some people, social distancing makes it harder to keep up with traditions. But, for the Lego people in the Chinese New Year collection series, there is no need to fear infection with a plague. 

In this scene from the 2020 collection, the grandfather is scrubbing the windows and touching up the red paint on the grills. Grandfather's younger brother has just finished pasting the papers with lucky sayings around the front door, and Grandmother has emerged from the kitchen to check on his work. Father has come back from buying more bottle rockets, while Older Brother is dressed as a Chinese zodiac Ox and is hanging a string of firecrackers from the roof. The little kids are making a snowman in the front yard because they are on vacation from school. 

The bottle rockets and firecrackers will all be set off exactly at midnight of the new year. But why make so much noise in the middle of the night? What is up with all the red? And why are there always lion dancers with drums and cymbals and their own bottle rockets at Chinese New Year celebrations? In the 2019 Lego Chinese New Year collection, the village lion dancer club is practicing by the old village gate in the marketplace for their midnight performance in the village streets. 

Legend has it that all the cleaning and decorations on family homes are necessary to protect everyone from being eaten at midnight by the "Year Beast" or "Nian shou." The Nian Beast is said by some to live in the mountains and by others to live in the sea. In all the legends, it comes to places with lots of humans on midnight of Chinese New Year, just as the old year is leaving and the new year is arriving. At this moment, the Nian Beast comes to eat people and animals and to destroy whatever it finds. Some legends say that the lion dancers dress up like the Nian Beast and dance to loud drums and cymbals to scare the Nian Beast away and keep their homes safe. 

This is Lego's version of the Nian Beast. It looks like drawings in folktale books that I have seen. It also resembles the lion dancers' costumes. Will the Nian Beast eat anyone this Chinese New Year? Or will the lion dancers scare it away?