Music and art play a very important role in my cultural tradition.

For example, at every holiday we celebrate with unique traditions, and we show gratitude by playing different genres of music and expressing ourselves with different forms of art. In particular, music teaches me how to appreciate my culture. It gives me knowledge about my historic background and it takes me back to my roots. It reminds me to never forget where I came from.

I never used to understand the lyrics of the songs when they were played in restaurants during holidays like Chinese New Year. I would simply just sit there and eat my food without thinking of the meanings of those songs, and I didn’t bother to ask questions because I thought they were just regular songs. But as the years went by, I came to a realization that certain songs would only be played during the month of Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year, which is also known as Lunar New Year, is the most important holiday for Chinese civilization. This holiday marks the start of the lunar calendar. During Chinese New Year, there is a list of traditions to follow. If we don’t follow those traditions, we won’t have good luck for the new year. For example, we need to say positive things during the start of Chinese New Year. Saying positive things will guarantee you a year of happiness. There is also a list of things not to do. We shouldn’t buy shoes during this period of time because, if we do, the shoes will lead us onto a path of bad luck. We can buy shoes 15 days after Chinese New Year ends. Chinese New Year also symbolizes the end of winter and the start of spring. Usually animals come out of hibernation during spring. This also means that spring is a new start for everyone. Chinese New Year is the time to gather with our families, wish for wealth, happiness, health, and to be grateful.

I started to have many questions about the Chinese New Year songs. I wondered what inspired songwriters to write them, and how it became a tradition for us to listen to them during Chinese New Year. So I began asking my parents loads of questions, and they explained what the songs were written about, and how the stories from the past became our traditions. Then they started telling me the stories from the past, and as I listened to the stories, I made notes on the events that had happened. After that I carefully listened to the lyrics of the songs and Googled their meanings. One song that I really liked was “Gong Xi Gong Xi,” which means "congratulate, congratulate." The lyrics are cheerful and lively. What I love about this song is that its filled with positive energy. The song is congratulating us for finding peace and happiness in the new year.

Since then, I have found out that many of the Chinese New Year songs were written in hope for an abundant amount of wealth, health, success, happiness, and good fortune for the new year, or to symbolize joy. The intentions of the songwriters were to pass down these songs from generation to generation, and they wanted them to be a part of Chinese cultural traditions. Even though I am Taiwanese, my family and I also follow these traditions. In fact, the majority of Taiwan follows the Chinese traditions for Chinese New Year.

These songs have made a great impact on Chinese and Taiwanese civilization. For over 3,500 years, they have helped spread cultural awareness, a sense of community, and a sense of belonging. Not only have they made a huge impact on Chinese and Taiwanese civilizations, but these songs are now known by people from all around the world. This helped preserve Chinese cultural traditions for Asians who don’t live in their motherland. For example, Asians who live in Western countries often don’t know much about their culture because they are not taught cultural traditions. Living in a place that has different traditions makes it harder to adapt to Chinese culture.

In addition to music, my cultural traditions are influenced by visual art. While I was in lower school, every year when Chinese New Year rolled around, Chinese teachers would help us learn how to write Chinese calligraphy on Chūnlián, square or rectangular pieces of red paper. On these pieces of paper there are usually either one or four Chinese characters that symbolize good fortune, blessings, wealth, health, happiness, and more. You will see one Chinese character on the paper that is in the shape of a square and you will see four Chinese characters on the paper that is in the shape of a rectangle.

Chinese calligraphy is written on square or rectangular pieces of red paper called Chūnlián. On these pieces of paper there are usually either 1 or 4 Chinese characters that symbolize good fortune, blessings, wealth, health, happiness, etc. You will see 1 Chinese character on the paper that is in the shape of a square and you will see 4 Chinese characters on the paper that is in the shape of a rectangle. These papers are called square and rectangle shaped paper that are red are called Chūnlián.

In lower school I learned how to write Chinese calligraphy on Chūnlián. Before the teachers taught us how to write Chinese calligraphy, they taught us the historic background on why writing Chinese calligraphy during Chinese New Year is our tradition. They explained that Chūnliáns are placed in houses to welcome good fortune.

Chūnlián are taped everywhere during Chinese New Year. You can find them on every wall, hallway, door, window, and anywhere you can imagine. We do this because we believe that changing Chūnliáns every year can help us with our luck. We throw the old Chūnlián away and change it to a new one for good luck. It is essentially like throwing bad luck away.

After learning about the traditions in my culture, I know that music and art play a huge role in my community. These traditions are not just about celebrating the holiday, they are about embracing the values that my family and I believe in. Chinese New Year reminds me of where my ancestors, family, and I came from. This makes me proud of my culture and our traditions. Without music and art, Chinese culture wouldn’t be the same. But this is not true of Chinese culture, without music and art every culture in the world wouldn’t be the same. This taught me to not take music and art for granted.