Chinese New Year is divided into four seasons and these are the Spring Festival, Summer Festival, Autumn Festival and the Winter Festival. The four seasons have different mythological creatures associated with them. These include the Rat, the Dragon, the Cow, the Monkey and the Crane. This article will describe each of the four seasons and their creatures.

 

tale of the twelve zodiac animals How the rabbit was able to win the first race. Ni hsi: The New Year s Eve Animal. Ni hsi is a Chinese mythological animal which lives at the very bottom of the river. According to chinese new year myths, the cow terrorized the whole village on the night of New Year's Eve and killed all the children who did not come to save the young ones.

 

Another one of those chinese new year myths says that the first cookery trick in the world was invented by the God of cooking, Luang Poh Cham. It was later adopted by the Chinese and became known as Luang Poh Sau, meaning the God of cookery. In ancient times, the Chinese used to break up the bones of a chicken and use the meat for food.

Chinese New Year Myths & Stories

 

Dragon and Crane legends These two Chinese new year myths say that if a child has a small dragon under his pillow then he will grow up to be a strong and handsome person. However, if you keep the cranium intact and decorate it with flowers and ribbons then the child will remain an orphan and will remain aressor till puberty. The story of crane and dragon is also related to the Chinese zodiac animals. If you know the Chinese characters for dragon and crane you can easily find out the meaning of some popular traditional Chinese dishes.

 

Dragon and Tiger stories Another big part of Chinese New Year folklore are the dragon and tiger stories. Chinese believe that the dragon lives at the bottom of a lake and the tigers live at the top of the highest mountain. There is a famous story about the tiger and the monkey who came to live at the same time at the edge of a valley. When the monkey scratched the tiger's nose, the tiger thought it was a monkey trying to attack him. He shot the monkey to death but lived to tell the story.

 

The most interesting myth is about the "Forty Plays". The story about the four musical balls that played at the beginning and end of the olden days Chinese new year is a very old tradition. At that time there were no theaters and people used to sing their favorite songs in front of each other. The plays were then put together as a movie. The most important part of the story is when the last piano played and it sounded like the river hadoken. The term "red decorations" was given because the people had no place to stay during the winter and they threw red ribbon over the doors to keep the cold wind out.

 

Fortune cookies and plum cakes It is believed that the Chinese new year traditions began with the practice of eating some kind of sweet cake or fortune cookies in the spring festival. Each one of these treats had a different meaning. Some of them meant prosperity while others meant health. For example, the fortune cookie used to mean good luck and the red plum cake was used to represent fertility. Today there are various kinds of fortune cookies and plum cakes available in the market. They are made by different companies as well.

 

Candle Ceremony The idea of the stove god is also related to the Chinese New Year and it was believed that the spirits of these gods gather around the heating stove during the time of New Year's Eve. Once the spirits are around the stove, all the humans on earth had to say goodbye to their families and friends. When the spirits of the stove god are around the fireplace, all the humans in the household had to say goodbye to their loved ones. The children were asked to throw handfuls of candies around the room and the adults had to light the candle and say goodbye to all their loved ones for the next year.

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