Starting Friday, most Chinese families will kick off a series of rituals to welcome the Lunar New Year. The traditions that have been inherited and maintained for thousands of years, bear with them the culture of the nation.
CGTN Photo
Traditionally, Spring Festival celebrations last for nearly a month, starting from the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month (La Yue in Chinese) until the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month (Zheng Yue in Chinese).
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Starting Friday, most Chinese families will kick off a series of rituals to welcome the Lunar New Year. The traditions that have been inherited and maintained for thousands of years, bear with them the culture of the nation.
Traditionally, Spring Festival celebrations last for nearly a month, starting from the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month (La Yue in Chinese) until the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month (Zheng Yue in Chinese).
One day after the deities’ review, the Highest Emperor in heaven descends on earth to see for himself if every family is leading a frugal and hardworking life. To show they do, people usually have bean curd on this day. The tradition reflects the virtue of austerity of Chinese people during times of hardship.
In an agrarian society like ancient China, most families could only afford to eat meat on special occasions, as the meat was considered a sign of affluence. People preferred braising the meat in a brown sauce as the color was believed to suggest a prosperous life for the upcoming year.
Chinese people would wash themselves and their clothes on this day according to folk customs. It is said that taking a bath can help you get rid of bad luck and illnesses so that you can enjoy good health in the year to come.
With the meat dish cooked, people would traditionally begin preparing staples for the upcoming Spring Festival. Since food crops differ between Chinese regions – wheat in the North and rice in the South, the dishes are naturally different. Northerners would knead the dough to make steamed buns, while Southerners pound glutinous rice to steam “year cake” or Nian Gao.
One day before Spring Festival Eve, people sweep the tombs of deceased family members and burn incense and joss paper at the front doors of their houses to show respect for the ancestors and invite their spirits to spend the night.
The 30th day of La Yue marks Spring Festival Eve when family members gather for a big reunion, which is especially meaningful for those who have been away from home for either work or study. Feasting on a banquet and watching the Spring Festival Gala on television has become an annual fixture for almost all Chinese. People stay up late and ring in the New Year with their loved ones.
The first month of the lunar year is called Zheng Yue. Getting up early on this day is as much a tradition as is staying up later the night before. People pay visits to relatives and friends with gifts and auspicious messages. Popular greetings include “good fortune,” “good health” and “happiness.”
In the past, married daughters would visit their parents’ houses with their husbands and children on this day. Such a tradition allowed the women of the family to reunite and catch up on each other’s lives. In modern times, however, it is more of a continuity of mutual visits between relatives and friends.
This year, the Chinese New Year falls on February 16, which marks the Year of the Dog, according to the Chinese zodiac sign, and the Lantern Festival is to be celebrated on March 2.
The 24th day of La Yue: Thoroughly clean the house
According to Chinese folklore, most deities on earth return to heaven on this day to report on their work. It is a perfect occasion for people to thoroughly clean their houses without worrying about offending household gods.
The 25th day of La Yue: Grinding bean curd (tofu)
CGTN Photo
One day after the deities’ review, the Highest Emperor in heaven descends on earth to see for himself if every family is leading a frugal and hardworking life. To show they do, people usually have bean curd on this day. The tradition reflects the virtue of austerity of Chinese people during times of hardship.
The 26th day of La Yue: Cooking meat
CGTN Photo
In an agrarian society like ancient China, most families could only afford to eat meat on special occasions, as the meat was considered a sign of affluence. People preferred braising the meat in a brown sauce as the color was believed to suggest a prosperous life for the upcoming year.
The 27th day of La Yue: Showering, washing clothes
CGTN Photo
Chinese people would wash themselves and their clothes on this day according to folk customs. It is said that taking a bath can help you get rid of bad luck and illnesses so that you can enjoy good health in the year to come.
The 28th day of La Yue: Kneading dough, making cake
CGTN Photo
With the meat dish cooked, people would traditionally begin preparing staples for the upcoming Spring Festival. Since food crops differ between Chinese regions – wheat in the North and rice in the South, the dishes are naturally different. Northerners would knead the dough to make steamed buns, while Southerners pound glutinous rice to steam “year cake” or Nian Gao.
The 29th day of La Yue: Honoring ancestors
CGTN Photo
One day before Spring Festival Eve, people sweep the tombs of deceased family members and burn incense and joss paper at the front doors of their houses to show respect for the ancestors and invite their spirits to spend the night.
The 30th day of La Yue: Spring Festival Eve
CGTN Photo
The 30th day of La Yue marks Spring Festival Eve when family members gather for a big reunion, which is especially meaningful for those who have been away from home for either work or study. Feasting on a banquet and watching the Spring Festival Gala on television has become an annual fixture for almost all Chinese. People stay up late and ring in the New Year with their loved ones.
The first day of Zheng Yue: New Year greetings
CGTN Photo
The first month of the lunar year is called Zheng Yue. Getting up early on this day is as much a tradition as is staying up later the night before. People pay visits to relatives and friends with gifts and auspicious messages. Popular greetings include “good fortune,” “good health” and “happiness.”
The second day of Zheng Yue: Married daughters visit childhood homes
CGTN Photo
In the past, married daughters would visit their parents’ houses with their husbands and children on this day. Such a tradition allowed the women of the family to reunite and catch up on each other’s lives. In modern times, however, it is more of a continuity of mutual visits between relatives and friends.
The 15th day of Zheng Yue: Lantern Festival
CGTN Photo
The 15th day of Zheng Yue marks the official end of the Spring Festival and is a festival in its own right – the Lantern Festival. At night, streets are decorated with lanterns featuring riddles waiting to be solved. Also on the menu is tangyuan, glutinous rice balls typically filled with sweet red bean paste, sesame paste or peanut butter.
World donors pledged more than $2.1 billion in humanitarian aid for Sudan after a yearlong war that has pushed its population to the brink of famine, French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday.
Macron spoke at the end of an international conference in Paris aimed at drumming up support for Sudan’s 51 million people. The aid will go to food, water, medicines and other urgent needs, he said, without providing a specific timeline.
Top diplomatic envoys, U.N. officials and aid agencies urged Sudan’s warring parties to stop attacks on civilians and allow access for humanitarian aid, and called for immediate international mediation efforts toward peace. Members of Sudan’s civil society took part in the Paris meeting, but neither the Sudanese army nor its rival paramilitary were represented.
Sudan descended into conflict in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country.
“Much of the world has been focused on the crisis that was generated in the Middle East. As concerning as those developments are, other dramatic life-and-death emergencies are being pushed into the shadows,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters after the Security Council met on Sudan on Monday.
“The world is forgetting about the people of Sudan,” he said.
The United Nations’ humanitarian campaign needs some $2.7 billion this year to get food, health care and other supplies to 24 million people in Sudan — nearly half its population. So far, funders have given only $145 million, about 5%, according to the U.N’s humanitarian office, known as OCHA.
After Monday's conference, Macron said, ‘’We are today at 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) for Sudan.'' Of that, some 900 million euros comes from EU countries, he said.
Monday's conference among 58 countries also called on regional powers to stop funding Sudan’s war. Without naming them, Macron said, ’’The amount we raised today remains probably less than all the money raised by several powers'' to wage a proxy conflict in Sudan.
More than 14,000 people have been killed and at least 33,000 have been wounded in the yearlong war. Nearly 9 million people have been forced to flee their homes either to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries, according to the U.N. Hunger, sexual violence against women and girls and continued displacement are rampant and much of the country's infrastructure — homes, hospitals and schools — has been reduced to rubble.
“We cannot let this nightmare slide from view,” Guterres said in a video message to the Paris conference.
“It’s time to support the Sudanese people. It’s time to silence the guns," he added.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said the aim of the conference was to mobilize humanitarian funding to help Sudanese people, who have been victims of both a “terrible war” and “international indifference.”
The European Union's crisis management commissioner, Janez Lenarcic, said the 27-member bloc wants to ensure that Sudan is not forgotten as wars in Gaza and Ukraine dominate the international news.
“People of Sudan, caught up in this emergency, are almost completely invisible,” Lenarcic said. Sudan has turned into one of the worst humanitarian disasters ever on the African continent, he said, and added: “It is our duty not to look away.”
President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric warned that humanitarian action is increasingly politicized in Sudan and humanitarian workers are risking their lives to get vital aid to people.
“Securing a military advantage cannot be pursued regardless of the human cost,” Spoljaric said.
The United States and Saudi Arabia initially led efforts to find a negotiated way out of the conflict. But since October the fighting has been overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which is threatening to expand into a broader regional conflict.
Relief workers, meanwhile, warn that Sudan is hurtling towards potential mass death in the coming months. Food production and distribution networks have broken down and aid agencies are unable to reach the worst-stricken regions.
The conflict has also been marked by widespread reports of atrocities including killings, displacement and rape, particularly in the area of the capital and the western region of Darfur.
At least 37% of the population at crisis level or above suffer from hunger, according to OCHA. Save the Children warned that about 230,000 children, pregnant women and newborn mothers could die of malnutrition in the coming months.
“Famine is a reality in Sudan,” said Abdallah al-Dardari, a regional director of the U.N. Development Program.
The military, headed by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have carved up Khartoum and trade indiscriminate fire at each other. In 2021, Burhan and Dagalo were uneasy allies who led a military coup. They toppled an internationally recognized civilian government that was supposed to steer Sudan’s democratic transition.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Surk from Nice, France. AP journalist Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, attends a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, speaks during a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, chairs an international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a session at the international conference on Sudan, Monday, April 15, 2024 in Paris. Top diplomats and aid groups met in the French capital to drum up humanitarian support for Sudan after a yearlong war has devastated the northeastern African country and pushed its people to the brink of famine. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard; Pool)
FILE - Sudanese Ambassador to the United Nations Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, third from right bottom, listens as Karim Khan, third from right top, Prosecutor of International Criminal Court, addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in Sudan, Thursday, July 13, 2023, at United Nations headquarters. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
FILE - Sudan's Army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan speaks in Khartoum, Sudan, on Dec. 5, 2022. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)
FILE - Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, then deputy head of the military council, salutes during a rally, in Galawee, northern Sudan, June 15, 2019. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo, File)
Sudanese Children suffering from malnutrition are treated at an MSF clinic in Metche Camp, Chad, near the Sudanese border, Saturday, April 6, 2024. Many people here fled the fighting in Sudan's vast western region of Darfur, where attacks by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces on ethnic African civilians have revived memories of genocide. The United Nations says close to 9 million people have fled their homes. (AP Photo/Patricia Simon)
FILE - People prepare food in a Khrtoum neighborhood on June 16, 2023. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo, File)
File - A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)
