This time of year, the most popular Chinese character around town is “fu”,  pronounced, “foo.” A friend once explained that “fu” means “good fortune” or “blessings” and this time of year, it is appropriate to wish your friends and relatives “fu” for the New Year.  

As with many traditions associated with Chinese New Year, “fu” is not straightforward. When hung outside your home or business, the “fu” should be placed upside down.  This is because the word for “upside down” in Chinese is similar to “arrived,”  so when the “fu” is turned on its head, it means, “Good Luck has arrived,” or in Chinese, “Fu dao le!”  

If hung inside the house, the “Fu” should be right side up so that your good fortune stays inside.  Either way, ”fu” is almost always written in gold and featured on a diamond-shaped, red piece of paper, the bigger the better.

The traditions and rituals of Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, are centuries old and remain strong among those who celebrate this festive holiday.  This year, the fifteen-day celebration will kick off on Sunday evening, January 22, with the traditional New Year’s Eve feast.

For Chinese families, however, preparations begin well before the New Year dawns.  To sweep away any residual bad luck from the previous year, families must clean their house thoroughly.  Come New Year’s Day, your home had better be in order because if you dare to vacuum or tidy up now, you risk sweeping away your good luck and prosperity for 2012.   

Chinese will decorate their homes and businesses using red and gold – colors representing luck and prosperity – and hang banners (called couplets) and paper cuts reflecting themes such as happiness, wealth, and longevity.  They will buy plum or other blossoms, which are a sign of new beginnings. Many people seek a fresh start by purchasing new clothes, getting haircuts, and paying old debts.

For the New Year’s feast, each dish is carefully selected to ensure good tidings for the upcoming year.  For example, dinner may include lettuce, which represents prosperity; fish, which is associated with surplus; and pork, which is thought to bring wealth. 

Firecrackers and lion dances scare away evil spirits during the New Year season, and pictures of door guardians, hung on either side of the entry, ensure your house and business remain safe once they have departed.   Lion dances are also believed to bring good fortune.

On New Year’s Day, families prepare traditional treats such as lotus seeds, representing fertility, watermelon seeds, dyed red for good luck, and candied melon, a symbol of robust health, to entertain friends and relatives.  Adults present children and unmarried family members with little red packets filled with money.

The celebration ends on the fifteenth day of the New Year with a colorful display of lanterns.  Again, the light frightens evil spirits.  You may also see a dragon dance, which is a sign of good luck and the beginning of spring.

Photo:  Typical offerings for the Kitchen God.

Daoists believe that the Kitchen God was once a mortal man born into a wealthy family.  Unfortunately, he later squandered his inheritance and then sold his wife to pay his debts.  He became blind and wandered the streets begging for food.

One day, his wife, who had found employment as a cook for a wealthy family, saw her former husband and took pity on him. Believing her master to be out, she snuck the husband into the kitchen with the intention of preparing a hot meal for him.

Unfortunately, the master surprised her by returning home early.  She immediately ran into the foyer to stall him, giving her husband a chance to escape.  Instead, he hid in the stove (in the old days, Chinese stoves were spacious enough to hold a man).

The master was hungry and asked the wife to prepare something for him to eat.  When she returned to the kitchen and didn’t see her husband, she assumed he had left and lit the stove to prepare dinner. The husband did not want to endanger his wife, so he remained silent and burned to death.

The gods felt that with this last act, the man had redeemed himself, and upon his passing, he was invited to join them.  Ever since, he has lived in kitchens, taking notes of all the gossip exchanged in this popular gathering place.

Each year, Daoists believe that the Kitchen God returns to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor (Yu Huang) on the household’s activities over the past year.  Families are then punished or rewarded accordingly.

Perhaps as a bribe or way to ensure good fortune, families prepare offerings each year before they send the Kitchen God to heaven. A week before the New Year dawns, they provide him with sweets and sticky snacks, the latter so he can’t open his mouth and reveal the family’s secrets. People burn his effigy, sometimes adding alcohol for a quick and colorful send off to heaven.

While the Kitchen God is away, people can do as they please because there is no one to witness their exploits.  Before the Kitchen God’s return, the family replaces his alter, drapes red ribbon over the top and prepares new clothes for him.

Photo: (above left) glutinous ”sticky” rice cake to keep the kitchen God from talking;   (left)  New clothes for the Kitchen God; (above right): New alter for the Kitchen God.

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