Do you plan on celebrating the Chinese New Year in your home, with your homeschool group, or with your students in your classroom?
The absolute best way to start is by transforming your space into one of excitement and wonder.
To do this, start with decorations.
Decorating your home, homeschool or classroom with the brilliant red and gold colors of China will create the perfect ambiance for any Chinese New Year projects or activities you have planned. Without decorations, the feel of the holiday is isolated in your projects and when the project goes away, so does the feeling.
When you take the time to decorate, the unique feel of the holiday stays with your children or students indefinitely.
It is the perfect compliment to any further studies or curriculum you have planned.
To decorate your home, homeschool or classroom for the Chinese New Year, you need 5 key items to accurately reflect how homes are decorated in China. If you’re going to decorate, you might as well do it right!
5 ITEMS YOU NEED TO DECORATE FOR THE CHINESE NEW YEAR
The first 4 items are to be hung around a door.
COUPLETS
Couplets are poetic lines written vertically and placed on either side of the entry door into a home. Traditionally, couplets were carved in wood from a Peach Tree as it was believed that peach trees could scare away evil spirits that may visit in the night.
Today they are mainly paper and are hung as wishes for a better life in the coming future.
These truly transform any door into one of beauty!
When you get your couplets, hang them on each side of your front door. If you prefer not to hang them outside your home, just use a well-trafficked doorway inside your home in a room where you do most of your activities. I actually like this better because we spend most of our time inside and I love having the feel of the Chinese New Year always around us.
When you buy couplets they usually come with a third, shorter couplet and this is to be hung on top of the doorway.
FU
The Chinese character “Fu” means “happiness and good fortune” so it makes sense that this is the most widely popular character hung during the Chinese New Year. Who doesn’t want to fill up their space with good fortune?
Hang Fu characters all around your home, homeschool, or classroom to let good fortune be had by all.
An easy way to recognize the Fu character decoration is that it is usually written on a square piece of paper. You will also see them hung diagonally and upside down. When upside down, it represents not just happiness and good fortune, but the ARRIVAL of these into your home.
You can hang the Fu character at the top center of your door…and quite honestly, anywhere else in your home. You can also find some great videos online that show you how to draw or paint your own Fu character on red paper. Maybe I’ll dive into that project next year.
DOOR GODS
Door gods are pictures of deities posted on the door outside and inside the house.
Door gods are expected to ward off any evil that may want to enter your home. They protect the family and bring peace and good fortune.
A typical Chinese house has a huge front gate at the entry of the property with two doors that open in the middle. Two door gods would traditionally be hung on each door of the gate facing each other. If you don’t have a huge front gate at the entry of your property then hang one door god underneath the Fu character.
Whether it’s one or two door gods you choose to hang in your home or classroom, know that you’ve done your part to bring peace and good fortune to the children within.
CHINESE LANTERNS
The Chinese New Year Celebration is different from ours in that it spans 15 days with different activities happening each day. The last day is the Lantern Festival.
This is the largest and most celebrated day of the Chinese New Year where people of all ages gather in the street to view lantern displays, take part in a lantern procession or write wishes on lanterns and release them into the sky.
In your home or classroom, I would recommend hanging them anywhere you see fit.
These beauties sway and boast their magnificence, and to me, nothing represents China more than a hanging lantern.
Go crazy with these! I always hang one front and center above the door I decorate. It will perfectly complete your Chinese New Year door decorations.
PAPER CUTTING/WINDOW FLOWER
Paper cutting is one of the oldest and most popular folk arts in China, and again, another project that would be fun to research and teach your children or students.
Soon after the invention of paper in China, when paper became more affordable, this art form became widespread throughout China and quickly spread to other parts of the world.
Window flowers depict symbols of good luck, scenes from Chinese opera and folk tales, wishes for a prosperous harvest, expressions of gratitude, Chinese mythical creatures…you name it.
Obviously, the best place to hang your paper cuttings is in windows throughout your home, homeschool or classroom, especially a window that gets a lot of sun, or perhaps a window on your front door. My daughter loved hanging these throughout our house and the lasting effect was eye-catching and beautiful.
Click here to access our FREE download to print and share with your children or students.
Don’t just decorate…decorate and EDUCATE!
