A long long time ago in China, there was a big scary nasty beast called “Nian”, whose name means “year”. He had razor-sharp teeth, giant claws, and a really mean growl.
Most of the time, he lived in the wildness, but on every New Year’s Eve, he would sneak into the village and scare everyone inside, even the animals.
People dreaded the New Year’s Eve for many many years until a wise man taught them the three things Nian was afraid of: loud noise, fire and the color red.
The next time Nian came, the villagers fought back. They hit their drums as loud as they could, lit every firecrackers they had and wore the color red from head to toe. Nian ran far away and never came back.
After that, people started celebrating the New Year’s Eve instead of fearing it. The custom of putting on new clothes, pasting red couplets and setting off fireworks remains. That celebration became a fifteen-day festival of family food and good fortune called Chinese New Year.
The story of “Nian”
A long long time ago in China, there was a big scary nasty beast called “Nian”, whose name means “year”. He had razor-sharp teeth, giant claws, and a really mean growl.
Most of the time, he lived in the wildness, but on every New Year’s Eve, he would sneak into the village and scare everyone inside, even the animals.
People dreaded the New Year’s Eve for many many years until a wise man taught them the three things Nian was afraid of: loud noise, fire and the color red.
The next time Nian came, the villagers fought back. They hit their drums as loud as they could, lit every firecrackers they had and wore the color red from head to toe. Nian ran far away and never came back.
After that, people started celebrating the New Year’s Eve instead of fearing it. The custom of putting on new clothes, pasting red couplets and setting off fireworks remains. That celebration became a fifteen-day festival of family food and good fortune called Chinese New Year.