Flowers For Eastern New Year Decorations

By John Chan

Explore how the Chinese people decorate their homes and streets on the New Year with unique art work and crafts.

The Chinese New Year is a very special day in the lunar calendar of this age old civilization. One can see Chinese families decorating their homes with many different Chinese New Year decorations prepared especially for the occasion. From the insides of people's homes to the city streets China is glittering in color throughout this season.

Few of the New Year decorations seen are pretty flowers to platters of food and some other variety of decorations that arekept for the festival. There are specific decorative items that have become signs to mark this time of the year. The collection of decorating items is wide and colorful.

Natural blossoms are a very significant part of the Chinese New Year decorations. Moreover, as a matter of fact, their love for the nature is pretty evident. At this time of the year, local households are decorated with different flowers and plants that represent growth and prosperity for the coming year.

The most frequently used plants and flowers used for decoration purposes during this time of the year are plum blossoms. This is because they are just beginning to blossom around this time. They are specially bound together with bamboo and pine springs. This unique combination actually symbolizes the grouping of friends and families at the event.

The two symbolic values the plum blossoms are supposed to represent are reliability and perseverance. The compatibility factor is represented by the bamboo due to its flexible nature and the evergreen nature of pine is a traditional mark of longevity. Other flowers used also are azalea, water lily, narcissus, and peony.

Fruits too have a part in New Year decoration and are usually found in Chinese households during the season. Oranges and tangerines are taken to be most popular and are often brought by friends who come over for a visit. Tangerines symbolize maintenance of a long relationship and joy.

The best partof the Chinese New Year is perhaps the candy tray; at least this is true as far as the kids are concerned. The candy tray is a specially designed decoration item for this time of the year. This sweet treat is also known as the tray of togetherness and consists of an interesting variety of some of the most delicious candies.

This candy tray also has another ritual following it up where an adult takes a candy and replaces it by keeping a red envelope in the tray that consists of some kind of good luck icon for the peopleoffering it. Generally the candy tray consists of candied melon of different variety like lychee nut, peanuts, coconut, and cumquat etc. all of which have special meanings.

A large amount of the New Year decorations are centered around the particular animal which represents the year. This has been the tradition for many years and is still practiced on New Years Day today. - 30294

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