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Chinese New Year

With a number of Clifton pupils who celebrate Chinese New Year, the festival was acknowledged in the Percival Library with the use of colourful decorations made by Sixth Formers.

We made colourful lanterns using red envelopes. The red colour of the envelopes represents good luck and is claimed to ward off evil spirits. We also made red streamers to hang from the ceiling of the Council Room, in the entrance to the Library.

Chinese New Year has become one of the most celebrated traditions in the Chinese calendar as a result of many myths. The most common of which suggests that Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called Nien, who would come on the first day of the year to consume animals, crops and people, in particular children.

The Chinese people would put food out in front of their doors at the beginning of each New Year so that Nien would eat the food, instead of the people. The myth continues that on one occasion Nien was scared away by a child wearing red, so the Chinese people deduced that he was scared of the colour. Hence, people often use red when celebrating the New Year.

By Harriet Watkinson
Photographs by Chris Waller

4 March 2010

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