A further custom is to eat a new year cake called niangao (Traditional Chinese: 年糕, Pinyin: nián gāo ,translated: year- cake) after dinner and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days of the new year, as it is believed that niangao indicates an increasingly prosperous year. Chinese New Year's Eve or Lunar New Year's Eve is the day before the Chinese New Year. Unity of the group is reinforced through ancestor veneration, offering of various kinds help to keep the ancestors happy in the spiritual world, who, in return, will bless the family. Chinese New Year is also called “Spring Festival” and “Lunar New Year”. Chinese New Year's Eve’s practice is the cluster of this festival’s history and tradition for thousands of years, there are many practices in China which are varied as people in different regions have different customs. Since Chinese are using lunar calendar, there’s no fixed date for Chinese New Year’s Eve. Often homonyms (words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings) are used. [5], Longevity noodles represents Chinese' wish for longevity. Boiling, steaming, frying are the most common ways to cook dumplings in China. The shape of the jiaozi represents a juanbao, hence wealth, so while eating a jiaozi, one is eating wealth and luck. Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is the grandest festival in China, with a 7-day long holiday. They usually put money in red pockets and hide under their children's pillows. Since the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, the last day of a year is also called lunar New Year's Eve (Traditional Chinese: 大年夜, Pinyin: dàniányè, translated: old, large, huge, major, important year's night). Three such events are: Please scroll down to end of page for previous years' dates. Other traditions of Chinese New Year include painting homes – or at least doors and windows – red, hanging up paper cut-outs with famous Chinese wisdom sayings on them, buying new clothing (especially red clothing), and paying off all debts before the new year arrives, including “debts of gratitude,” and visiting the oldest members of one’s extended family to honour them. Every dish on Chinese New Year’s Eve have different meanings. It has evolved over a long period of time.

It takes place on the Marina Bay Floating Platform and along the Esplanade Waterfront Promenade.

Ancestor worshiping [citation needed]. A significant custom associated with New Year celebration is to spend the New Year's Eve preparing and eating Chinese dumplings called jiaozi (Traditional Chinese 餃子, Simplified Chinese: 饺子, Pinyin: jiǎo zi ). The old year is bidded farewell, the new year called xinnian (Tradition Chinese: 新年, Pinyin: xīn nián, literally: new year) is welcomed.

After burning some joss sticks and candles, the ancestors are supposed to begin to eat, and the whole family members should worship them on bended knees and kowtow. Celebrating Chinese New Year’s Eve has always been a family matter in China, it is the reunion day for every Chinese family. Chinese New Year market Chinese people may be thrifty most of the time, but they seem to spend generously during their traditional festivals. The colour red is thought to bring good luck and happiness for the year ahead, and a little cash doesn’t hurt either. On the 5th day of the new year, a ten-day-long event, the Chinese Festival of Arts, commences. Here is the table for the dates of Chinese New Year's Eve from 2000 to 2020. The year will get off to a bad start if food is served or eat from broken or chipped dinnerware, as this signifies your eating into your own capital. Chinese like playing with words and symbols. Besides the events and activities already mentioned that take place on Chinese New Year’s Day proper, there are other events associated with Chinese New Year that occur a little bit later. Minced meat (pork, shrimp, chicken, beef.etc.) [4] On lunar new year, the kitchen god returns to the earth and each family welcomes him by pasting a new picture of him in the kitchen. Every light in the house is supposed to be kept on the whole night. As mentioned before, these crackers are supposed to scare away any traces of ‘Nian’, as the monster is afraid of the noise. People say that after being offered sacrifices, Tsai Shen leaves for heaven on the second day of the lunar New Year. Traditional floats focus on things like the signs of the zodiac and the Chinese god of good fortune, but these days, you will see floats of every variety. In ancient time, Chinese money is the round copper coin with a square hole in the middle.
The legal holiday is seven days long, from the Lunar New Year's Eve to the sixth day of the first lunar month. The ghost would do no harm to man, but the ancients were afraid of them, so they asked for help to drive the ghost away. Hence, consuming a Chinese dumpling at midnight indicates wishing for a good and prosperous year. Firecrackers are again lit to welcome the god. The preparation is easy and does not involve any knives, and again, cutting off good fortune is avoided.

Usually starting at 11:00 p.m. the celebration will begin with ancestor worshipping and will be followed by a reunion dinner, a savory and royally feast cooked for the occasion. A hot soup or broth that is simmering is placed in the middle of the table, and other foods, such as thin-sliced meats, dumplings, raw fish, and vegetables, are thrown into the pot to cook them before everyone’s eyes. Since it is the last meal of the year, all the family members must sit together to enjoy the delicious family traditional dishes and everybody in the family is allowed to and encouraged to drink.
All knives in the houses must be put away on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

Welcoming Tsai Shen, the God of Wealth

Jiaozi typically consist of a ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together or by crimping, than boiled or steamed. These are also great for tourists to attend, should they still be in Singapore at that point. Sometimes if Mid-Autumn Festival is near National Day, Mid-Autumn Festival may be in the golden week. Some of the most popular dishes are: Spring rolls is a traditional dish in East China. Family is viewed as a closely united group of living and dead relatives. [5], Dumpling is a traditional food to eat in north China on Chinese New Year’s Eve while in southern China very few people serve dumplings as Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner. [citation needed], The Chinese character for hair is the same first character in the word for prosper. [6], On Chinese New Year's Eve, all cleaning tools such as brooms, brushes, dusters must be put away. Legend has it that Emperor Huang Ti introduced the holiday in 2637 B.C., but no one knows for sure when it began.

It is a street parade with a carnival-like atmosphere and a long stream of impressive floats. Children are allowed to stay awake until late. Dishes with a Meaning, the Symbolism of Food In 2018, the CNY celebration falls on Friday 16 February.