New Year's Customs
Worldwide
Chinese New Year Paper
Cuttings
Cheng Jiang-Jiang
from China
If you were in China for New
Year's Day, you would see many kinds of paper cuttings on every family's
windows. Paper cuttings are one of the most popular folk arts in China.
They are properly framed or simply pasted onto the windows.
Traditionally, they were
only made of red paper. Most elderly women would make them just with a
piece of red paper and a pair of scissors. They made them for their own
families for the Chinese New Year. The Chinese believed that these paper
cuttings can scare away the evil spirits, so they can't get into your house
through the windows. The cuttings also bring you luck for the New Year.
Now the cuttings have changed.
They are full of colors. Today they are also made in factories. It is not
only a custom to have them in public, but they are also a beautiful form
of art representing Chinese culture. Many are still made completely by
hand, then hand painted in bright colors.
They are truly a Chinese
miracle. Would you like to have one for the New Year? It would bring you
good luck for the New Year.
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