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?