Folk customs of Chinese Lunar New Year in Central China

An actor acting as the Kitchen God boils dumplings for citizens during a temple fair in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. In Chinese mythology, the Kitchen God is the most important of a plethora of Chinese domestic gods that protect the hearth and family. It is believed that on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, just before Chinese Lunar New Year he returns to Heaven to report the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor, emperor of the heaven, either rewards or punishes a family based on Kitchen God's yearly report A child laughs with pleasure as he holds a newly-bought festive lantern in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, Feb. 1, 2011. Chinese children are usually given festive lanterns to celebrate the Spring Festival or Chinese Lunar New Year. Villagers brew rice wine with traditional technique at a yard in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, Jan. 28, 2006. People in many villages in central China region still follow the custom to brew rice wine by themselves beforehand so as to drink the wine on the Chinese New Year's eve. Chinese people who live in the central China region have formed various traditions to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. A family gather to have a family-reunion dinner outside their cave dwelling in Qucun Village of Shaanxian County, Henan Province, Feb. 1, 2003. Different from the other parts of China in which people have family reunion dinner on the Chinese New Year's eve, people living in the central China region have the family banquet at the noon of the first day of the lunar month. Chinese people who live in the central China region have formed various traditions to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. A vendor sells a traditional Spring Festival food, namely "thick stick bun of eastern Henan "on a street in Shangqiu City, Henan Province, Jan. 12, 2003. Chinese people who live in the central China region have formed various traditions to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. People gather to worship "Nian," a beast in Chinese mythology which comes out of hiding to attack people around Chinese Lunar New Year, at a temple fair in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, Feb. 10, 2010. Chinese people who live in the central China region have formed various traditions to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. Source: Xinhua from China Travel & Tourism News http://www.chinatraveltourismnews.com/

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