THE LEGEND BEHIND CNY CELEBRATION

For us who graduated from Chinese schools, the legend behind the celebration of Chinese New Year is well known to all of us. Of course, like all legends, there's always different variation within a legend, and as I search for info about the legend behind CNY in the Net, I'm surprised to find the most consistent variation of the legend is slightly different from the one I know of. Here's the legend behind the celebration of Chinese New Year:

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The word Nian, the modern Chinese word for "year," was originally the name of a monster that preyed on people at night before the beginning of a new year. The beast Nian was said to have a large mouth capable of swallowing many people with one bite. The people were afraid and could not find a way to rid themselves of this dreadful beast. One day an old man appeared, offering to subdue Nian. To Nian he said, "I hear that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts of prey on earth instead of the people who are by no means worthy opponents to you?"

So Nian proceeded to swallow as many of the beasts of prey on earth as possible, and soon after the old man, later discovered to be an immortal god, vanished riding the beast Nian. With Nian and the remaining beasts of prey scared into the forest, people began to enjoy life again. However, before leaving the people, the old man had told the people to place red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare Nian away should he ever run loose again, because red is the color the beast feared the most.

From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian was carried on from generation to generation. The term Guo Nian, which once translated to Survive the Nian today, today means to Celebrate the (New) Year as the word Guo in Chinese means both pass-over and observe. The custom of putting up red paper and lighting fire-crackers to scare away Nian in the case of his return is still around today, though many have long forgotten the origins behind this tradition.

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In the version I know of, there isn't any "old man" character, juz that somehow by accident the villagers discovered that Nian is afraid of firecrackers and red papers (I can't remember the details). But otherwise, it's close enough la...

So there u have it guys, the legend behind the celebration of Chinese New Year! Hope u guys find that... er... educational! >=) Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Gong Xi Fa Cai, Hong Pau Na Lai!!! (Translated: Wish you a prosperous new year, now gimme my red packets! Lol...)