Origin of Chinese New Year Banner/春聯
The legend goes that every year the 年 (nián/year) monster would pillage the villages. The villagers were unable to defend themselves and lived in fear until one year when an old beggar man taught the villagers how to ward off the monster with red banners, fire crackers and noise from chopping pork for dumpling filling.
Nowadays people put up banners with auspicious blessings, mostly surrounding topics of wealth, good fortune and health, to celebrate Chinese New Year.
Popular Blessings Written on Chinese New Year Banner
There are two main types of banners hug around and on door frames during Chinese New Year. One is a diamond shape with one character written on it, usually 福 (fú/fortune) or 春 (chūn/Spring). The other is longer banner with either four or more Chinese characters of auspicious blessings written on it.
The diamond shaped banners are oftentimes turned upside down to symbolize wishes of good fortune (福/fú) and Spring (春/chūn) arriving early. Since the Chinese character for inverted (倒/dào) is the same as pouring forth (倒/dào), these smaller banners are put up upside down to symbolize blessings pouring into the home or business.
Here are some of the most popular Lunar New Year blessings or 吉祥話 (吉祥话/jí xiáng huà), their meanings and pronunciations. Most are included in the banners we created for you but below are simpler versions:
- 恭喜發財/恭喜发财/gōng xǐ fā cái: wishes for good fortune
- 吉祥如意/jí xiáng rú yì: good luck
- 五福臨門/五福临门/wǔ fú lín mén: five blessings come upon your door/home
- 萬事如意/万事如意/wàn shì rú yì: all things go as you wish
- 新年快樂/新年快乐/xīn nián kuài lè: happy New Year
- 年年有餘/年年有余/nián nián yǒu yú: every year you’ll be blessed with abundance (have leftover)
