Chinese New Year decorations use calligraphy, poetry, plants and food to express hopes for happiness, good luck and prosperity. By keeping the house filled with auspicious symbols, the hope is that the family living inside will be surrounded by good fortune throughout the coming year.
The cornerstones of Chinese New Year decorating are the beautiful calligraphy banners collectively known as fai chun that are written in black or gold ink on bright red paper.
The simplest banner is the good luck character, or doufang, a single word or expression such as “happiness,” “wealth” or “spring” written on a square of paper. One of the most popular characters is fu, meaning “good luck” or “blessings”, which is commonly displayed upside down on the front door to symbolize good luck “arriving” or “pouring” into the home.
Good luck characters are frequently paired with spring couplets, or chunlian, 4-7 character poems written on long strips of paper that are hung around the edges of the front door. The poems are generally comprised of complementary phrases celebrating the beauty of nature or expressing wishes for a happy and prosperous future.
When arranged together, good luck characters and spring couplets create a cheery Chinese New Year greeting for visitors to your home.
For example, fresh flowers like orchids represent love and fertility, while peonies stand for spring and wealth. A more elaborate arrangement like the “three friends of winter,” which combines plum blossoms, bamboo and pine, is rich in symbolism for the virtues of perseverance, utility and longevity.
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