Legend of Nian - Chinese Customs


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	___ Nian (Nian Shou) Chinese New Year Legend of Nian (traditional Chinese: 年獸; simplified Chinese: 年兽; pinyin: nián shòu).
	Long ago there was a Chinese legend that said that a terrible monster (pictured sometimes with features of a lion, unicorn, and ox), a giant by the name of ‘Nian’ lived in the mountains and would come down at the end of the year to terrorize people and animals or even kill them all. It was discovered that the monster was frightened by loud noises, bright lights, and the colour red. This is one of the reasons that the Chinese New Year has many loud fire crackers, bright fireworks and lanterns, lion dance performances, and the colour red is seen everywhere to scare the beast away.
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	The Nian page was last modified on: Friday, 24-Jul-2009 18:50:47 CEST

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