Lunar New Year
The cycle of festivities regulates the routines of people’s lives. Traditional agricultural activities follow the annual cycle. The Spring Festival is a time both for rest and relaxation and for festivities that herald the coming of a new season. In today’s urbanized Hong Kong, the dates of traditional festivals are usually public holidays that are equally an occasion for family reunions. The Lunar New Year marks a new beginning: people clean their homes from top to bottom on New Year’s Eve, enjoy a family reunion dinner and then go for a stroll around the spring ower markets. On New Year’s Day, everyone in the household gathers round the table to share the rst meal of the year as a family, after which they will pay New Year greeting calls on relatives and friends. The Hong Kong government also adds to the festivities by organizing annual parades of decorated oats and staging rework displays. Lantern shows are held on the 15th day of the rst lunar month. Many families take advantage of the New Year holiday break to travel overseas. For a short while, people set their work aside to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.
During the Lunar New Year holiday, residents of the New Territories working in the city return to their home villages to join their families. On the 15th of the rst lunar month, many lineages hold their Lantern-lighting Ceremonies at their ancestral halls, during which lanterns symbolizing the baby boys born to the lineage are lit, and the names of these new-borns are entered into the lineage’s genealogy records. Afterwards, lineage members enjoy a meal in the cazuela style, where the food is prepared in big pots around which the diners gather to share in the feast, thus generating an atmosphere of geniality. At the Lantern-lighting Ceremony and the communal feast the male o spring’s lineage membership is formally recognized, and the rights and obligations of lineage members are imparted to them.
