Red: Lantern and origin of the Chinese New Year.

Brilliant Red   Lanterns for Chinese New Year. On February 18th, I am invited to give a talk of Chinese New Year to the St John Ambulance group. I plan to talk about Why Red colour is used, and the Nian/ dragon. I will have my dragon then.  This is at my friend Francis House; red to frighten away the Nian monster.
幸运红

I made this monster when I go and give my interactive talks.

Mythology

Hand-painted Chinese New Year's poetrypasted on the sides of doors leading to people's homes, Lijiang, Yunnan

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian(Chinese: 年; pinyin: Nián). Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

http://rubytuesday2.blogspot.co.nz

http://www.suelovescherries.blogspot.com/