The Legend of Nian Monster
The Legend of Nian Monster
• In ancient times, there was a monster called "Nian" ("year") that would come out to eat people and animals on the eve of last day of last lunar month. To avoid the monster's attack, people would flee to the depth of the mountains and call this day "Nian Guan" (meaning "the Pass of Nian"). On one of the eve, there came an old beggar in Peach Blossom Village, where an old lady gave him some food and asked him to hide himself in the mountain to avoid the monster Nian.
Dumpling （JIAOZI）
The Symbolic Meaning of JIAOZI
1. In China, the most traditional and popular Spring Festival food is dumpling, which looks like the moon with vegetables and meat mixed in it. The Chinese name of dumpling is “JIAO ZI”, ”JIAO” means ”cross”, ”ZI” is Chinese traditional time represents “24:00”, so the Chinese word “JIAO ZI”(交子) means “cross 24:00”, just the dividing point of last year and next year. So when it comes to 24:00, every family begins eating dumplings.
