Xiezao, or sending off the Kitchen God is one of the oldest Chinese New Year
traditions that Macao
still keeps. The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is the day on which people
offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God. The Kitchen God is said to go to the Heaven
to report the good and evils of the family on this day for the Jade
Emperor (the Supreme Deity of Taoism) to give his rewards and punishments.
To give the Kitchen God a send-off, people offer sweets, pure water and
soybeans, and even apply sugar on the mouth of the God's Idol so that he won't
speak ill of the family in front of the Jade
Emperor.
Just like inland China, the Spring Festival in Macao gets under way from the
8th day of the last lunar month of the old year, on which the bosses usually
treat the employees to a reunion dinner party, hoping for wealth, success and
luck in the coming new year.
On New Year's Eve, most people have a reunion dinner, watch Spring Festival
Party on TV, chat with family members and stay up late to bid farewell to the
old year and guard the new year in. The houses are lit up brightly with lamps
both outside and inside of the house. Like the Cantonese, it is customary for
most Macao families to visit the flower fair after the reunion dinner on New
Year's Eve and buy a potted plant such as a tree with tangerines hanging on it.
The tangerine symbolizes good luck and wealth and the chrysanthemum symbolizes
longevity.
Another special activity in Spring Festival is to give lishi, which is the
same as Hongbao, the red packet with present money in inland China. Lishi, its
pronunciation symbolizing luck and auspiciousness, is given by bosses to
employees, seniors to juniors, and married to unmarried.
The second day of the new year is called "opening a year", on which a grand
"open-year" dinner will be held, with necessary dishes like Facai (a kind of
algae), lettuce and carp, symbolizing the right way of gaining wealth. Only in
the following three days civil servants are allowed to participate in gambling
activities.
From the second day till the Lantern Festival which falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, traditional
activities like firework display, dragon
dances and lion dances bring the festival to a season of
fun.
