Kristen Finlayson

Find out the about the myths that surround the use of fireworks during the Chinese New Year celebrations.

The worst time to preach about noise pollution in China would be during the Chinese New Year celebrations. This is because the blowing up of fireworks is amongst the traditional celebrations that the Chinese people take part in for the intention of welcoming the New Year.

Chinese New Year is a time when everybody is together with their family and friends in order to celebrate the festival. This festival holds vast importance in the life of the people in China. On the final day of the celebration they burst firecrackers to round off the final day of the festival.

The New Year is the time when the people of China feel free to bring back some truly old customs and make use of them for the purpose of celebration. The blowing of fireworks is one such exclusive tradition which has immense importance as far as Chinese society is concerned. The tradition of fireworks has been in use for centuries in China and it has a great significance in China during the coming of New Year.

The fireworks faith

As usual you will come across many explanations connected to the bursting of firecrackers which are part of the myths the Chinese people believe in. One of the stories is that the crackers are burst so that the dragon which is sleeping wakes up with noise that the crackers make. This dragon is the symbol of rain which is required in summer for the growing of the crops.

Since China is an agricultural society the importance of rain and agriculture friendly weather cannot be denied. Hence they have adopted this idea which serves as a viable excuse to make some noise pollution during the New Year celebrations.

Warding off Evil Spirits

There are other stories regarding the noise as well. They mean to keep themselves free from the influence of evil spirits with the noise made by the firecrackers. In the beginning of the year itself they plan to free themselves from evil spirit and make the coming year lucky for them.

There is an entire customary parade that takes place as part of the celebrations during New Year. It is compulsory for all those who participate in this parade to throw firecrackers towards the feet of the dragon with the aim to keep them awake during the parade.

Another beautiful custom related to the fireworks is the dragon dance. It is a fantastic sight for anyone coming from abroad to see a colorful dragon doing dance steps. The dragon dance represents the spirit of Chinese ancient traditions. This amazing show has a dragon dancing at the center and firecrackers bursting all around it.

The theory of firecrackers has to do both with evil as well as good spirits. Some think that the loud noise drives the evil away whereas some feel that all that noise keeps the good spirits from coming in. But the traditional Chinese belief lies in the former concept.