Chongqing- Offering sacrifices to Kitchen God, having a family reunion dinner, visiting relatives and friends, and posting Spring Festival couplets... You might hear of how millions of people celebrate Chinese New Year across China, but Chongqing locals also have their ways to celebrate the Chinese New Year, with traditional customs to be included in many activities.
This year, iChongqing invites You Jiang, a famous cartoonist in Chongqing, who also works as the Executive Vice President of Chongqing Cartoon Society, to join us with a comics series indicating how Chongqing locals celebrate their Spring Festival.
You Jiang, a famous cartoonist in Chongqing, also works as the Executive Vice President of the Chongqing Cartoon Society. (iChongqing/ Wang XIaoyan)
Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. It was traditionally a time to honor deities as well as ancestors, and it has also become a time to feast and to visit family members.
2022 marks the Year of the Tiger, where tigers symbolize courageous and active people who love a good challenge and adventure in life.
Chinese New Year is also about starting on a clean slate, cleansing the negative and welcoming the positive, and setting intentions for a prosperous, lucky and fulfilling year. After all, who doesn’t need some extra positive vibes in this Year of the Tiger?
In Chinese, preserved meat is commonly referred to as "La Rou" because la also refers to the month of December on the lunar calendar. (Photo/ You Jiang)
The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve, or "Xiaonian". It is the day when people offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God. (Photo/ You Jiang)
Stick around for the Chinese New Year and celebrate with family and friends. (Photo/ You Jiang)
A special way for people to express good wishes to each other and an important Chinese New Year tradition is family visiting. People drop in at relatives and friends' houses, bringing gifts or red envelopes, and greeting one another with "Happy New Year". (Photo/ You Jiang)
A Chinese New Year reunion dinner brings a joyful family together around a full table and symbolizes the hopes for prosperity in the year ahead. (Photo/ You Jiang)
The most common alcohol is Chinese white wine, or "Baijiu", during the Chinese new year. (Photo/ You Jiang)
On the first day of the Spring Festival, people would pay a visit to their elderly and respected by offering good wishes. (Photo/ You Jiang)
Eating rice balls is an essential custom in southern China. (Photo/ You Jiang)
Walking down a street in Chongqing, you might see store windows filled with skewers packed with shiny, glazed fruits. These treats are called "Bintang Hulu". (Photo/ You Jiang)
Daffodils come to symbolize kindness and prosperity, and people in Chongqing are especially fond of them during the Chinese New Year. (Photo/ You Jiang)
Biding farewell to the old year. (Photo/ You Jiang)
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