A foreigner's views on the Spring Festival
- By Mitchell Blatt
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 18, 2015
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Spring Festival is sometimes referred to by Chinese people speaking to foreigners as "the Christmas of China." |
The day I arrived in China for the first time was Lantern Festival 2011. Firecrackers exploded in alleyways, lighting up the night and adding to the already great excitement of exploring a large city with a different culture.
Now I am getting ready to celebrate my second Spring Festival in China (not including 2011). Spring Festival is sometimes referred to by Chinese people speaking to foreigners as "the Christmas of China." In so much as both holidays usually involve people eating and drinking together as a family, there are some similarities, but Spring Festival is Spring Festival. It has its own characteristics and its own meaning that cannot be encompassed by such a comparison.
In my view as an American in China, Spring Festival is a beautiful two-week long celebration when family and friends come together, which begins with Chinese New Year and ends with Yuanxiao Jie, or Lantern Festival. It is chock-full of all kinds of Chinese cultural activities, which makes it all the more exciting for me to observe some things I do not see every day. In contrast to Christmas, which is celebrated by Christians, Spring Festival is a holiday that includes (almost) everyone in China. There is no contrived "War on Spring Festival," as there is a so-called "War on Christmas" in America, consisting of pitched battles between outraged Fox News hosts and atheists.
Celebrating Spring Festival in Shanghai in 2013, a friend invited me to eat dinner with his family on the eve of the traditional Chinese New Year. Three generations were there, children, fathers and mothers, uncles and cousins, and grandparents. Before the dinner began, those of the youngest generation were asked to give short speeches wishing a prosperous new year. After a long procession of dishes, no one could say they were hungry.
After dinner, we went out to the street, and my friend taught me how to launch fireworks the Chinese way - lighting them with a cigarette. The fireworks projected from a sidewalk in Jing'an district and exploded over the streetlights and passing cars on the road. I can't imagine doing that in America. It isn't allowed in many states to even launch fireworks in the countryside, let alone in a crowded city like Shanghai.
One year later I was celebrating Lantern Festival in Beijing, and I, with some Chinese friends, purchased fireworks and set off to Houhai, a crowded bar district by Houhai lake. The area was already raucous with explosions on every corner. We only added to the cacophony.
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