And now? It's time for Who Smarted.
Psst. Hey, Smartypants.
Trusty narrator here.
See if you can guess where I am right now.
Go ahead, shout it out.
Uh -huh. I heard a 4th of July celebration.
Wrong! But good guess.
Ooh, I heard a New Year's Eve party.
An excellent guess.
And very close, if I may add.
Here, I'll just tell you.
I'm actually attending a traditional parade celebrating the Chinese New Year.
My friend Mei invited me to this year's celebration for two really good reasons.
The first being, she knows how much I love a good parade.
And secondly, because this year, 2024, the Chinese Zodiac is represented by one of my favorite mythical creatures.
What is it you ask?
Why? It's a scaly, fire -breathing creature that sometimes has wings.
If you guessed a dragon, you're right.
As we all know, Trusty, most people in the USA and many countries around the world celebrate the New Year on January 1st.
But for people in many Asian countries, New Year's is celebrated at a different time, and has to do with something rather celestial.
Celestial means in the sky, in case you didn't know, smarty pants.
The question is, what celestial body has to do with Chinese New Year?
Maybe the smarty pants want to take a guess.
Are you kidding? The smarty pants love guessing games.
So, which celestial body is at the center of the Chinese New Year?
Is it A, the sun, B, the moon, C, the stars in general, or D, the Milky Way galaxy?
If you said B, the moon, nice job.
Indeed, it is the Lunar New Year that is followed, with the holiday beginning on the first day of a new moon, somewhere between January 20th and February 20th, with festivities lasting until the following full moon, which is typically a little over two weeks later.
Whoa! A two -week New Year's festival?
That's amazing! We just get one eve, and one next day to recover from staying up so late.
Don't forget the firecrackers!
Smarty pants, I was just telling Mei that when I was a little narrator growing up, I loved attending Chinese New Year celebrations in New York's Chinatown, standing on the sidewalk catching candy and trinkets, being tossed from the different floats passing by.
Oh yeah, that's a lot of fun.
I did that too when I was little.
Of course, my absolute favorite memories were watching the beautiful, lifelike, colorful paper dragons with oversized heads winding their way along the parade route, the way they weaved in and out, up and down.
Kinda like a giant snake!
It sometimes took ten or more people to maneuver them.
Wow, those are my favorite too, but they're not just fun to look at.
They play an important role during this grandest of holiday celebrations, which is also referred to as Spring Festival.
Smarty pants, what do you think the significance, or meaning, of the dragon is during the Chinese New Year celebration?
Believe it or not, dragons represent good luck, strength, and prosperity during the upcoming year as they chase away evil spirits.
Ah yes, eastern dragons are known as good creatures.
If you heard our episode on dragons, you might remember that.
But dragons are just one of many fun traditions observed this time of year.
Great! Maybe you can share some with us and answer a few other questions I have about Chinese New Year.
Such as, what is the Chinese Zodiac?
Why are there so many firecrackers?
And is it true that people born during the year of a specific animal are said to possess that animal's traits?
Excellent questions, Trusty.
I'll be honored to share what I know of you and the smarty pants.
Then it's time for another whiff of science, history, and firecrackers.
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Hey, Mei! Is there anywhere a little quieter we can go to do some smarting about Chinese New Year?
Yeah! I was thinking the same thing!
Follow me! Where are we headed?
My grandma's apartment is around the block.
We can help her finish preparing a traditional recipe for tonight's celebration while we talk.
That sounds great! I love visiting.
My grandma, she also likes it when I help out with her traditional recipe.
Who wants meat cake?
So, Mei, we've mentioned that this year is considered the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese Zodiac.
But what exactly is the Chinese Zodiac?
Each year of the Chinese calendar is named after one of twelve animals.
And every twelve years, the animals repeat in the exact same order.
It's kind of neat looking back to the year you were born to see which animal ruled that year and if you possessed some of its traits.
I see! And which were you?
I was born in 1990, the Year of the Horse.
We're set to possess traits such as cheerfulness and a free -spirited personality.
I gotta say, that kind of fits you.
Thanks, Trustee. What about you?
What year were you born?
How about I whisper to you?
I'm not surprised. I won't say the year, other than to say it's the Year of the Monkey.
Hey, what does that mean?
It means you're very funny.
And a bit mischievous.
Just like a monkey.
Oh, I'll take it. Here we are, grandma's apartment.
Wow! Is that her door with all the red decorations and paper lanterns?
It sure is. My grandma takes great pride in creating them all by hand.
I bet. They're quite beautiful.
Before we go inside, do you notice anything?
Uh, yeah. There's a little table outside her door with oranges and tangerines on it.
Are they part of the celebration, too?
Yep. Certain foods are given meaning or represent specific things in Chinese culture.
And the New Year celebration is the time for oranges and tangerines.
They're often given as gifts to children and guests when entering someone's home.
Would you like one?
Sure. Nom nom nom nom nom.
People associate these foods with good luck, wealth and happiness.
You see, the Chinese New Year is filled with all sorts of myths and stories that are passed down from one generation to the next.
One of the most popular is a legend about a mythical beast known as nian, which means year monster.
It was said to be quite a mash -up, sporting features of a lion, a unicorn, and an ox.
That's quite the combination.
Oh yeah, but it gets worse.
Once a year, this monstrous creature was known to terrorize villages, eating farm animals, all the crops, and even the townspeople.
Yikes! That's horrible!
You were telling me.
So, do you think your smarty pants want to take a guess what night of the year this was supposed to have happened?
Sure, the ones who aren't hiding under their beds.
Oh, and smarty pants, this story is just a myth or a legend.
It's not real. But what night did this pretend monster madness take place?
Was it A. Christmas Eve, B.
Halloween, or C. Chinese New Year's Eve?
Why, of course, it's C.
Chinese New Year's Eve.
Legend also has it that nothing could stop it until a wise old man discovered the horrible beast was scared of two things.
Oh yeah? Smarty pants, what do you think Nian, the lion, ox, unicorn, mashup would be scared of?
Yep, I have no idea either.
That's okay, we'll find out right after this quick break.
Hi guys, it's Trusty.
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Now back to who smarted.
Smarty Pants, we just learned about the legend of a crazy, awful creature named Ni Yan, who used to terrorize villages on the eve of Chinese New Year.
That is, until a wise old man discovered two ways to scare it off.
And they are... The first was loud noises, like a gong.
Or beating drums. Or firecrackers.
Oh! Which is why we keep hearing those.
What's the second thing?
A particular color will also scare the beast.
What color have we mentioned a few times so far, Smarty Pants?
Did you say red? That's right.
Which is why homes, like your grandma's, are decorated in red.
Exactly. Also, leaving food outside one's door would feed his belly, so he wouldn't be as tempted to eat farm animals.
Crops. And especially, townspeople.
What a wild story. Hopefully it didn't scare you, Smarty Pants.
And again, it's not real.
But it does explain some of the fun traditions you see during Chinese New Year's festivals.
I almost forgot. Before we head inside, I think it would be so cool if you wish my grandma a Happy Chinese New Year in her native dialect of Mandarin.
Oh, like the orange?
That's right. It's the most common dialect spoken in China.
She also speaks English, but she'll get a kick out of hearing you say it.
Let's do it. Great.
Just follow my lead.
Grandma, it's me. Please, come in.
This is my friend, the trusty narrator from the Who Smarted podcast.
Hello, trustee. Nice to meet you.
Let me see if I got this right.
Xin -Yen, Kuai -Lue. Happy New Year.
Thanks. Same to you.
I must say, your home looks so bright and festive.
Thanks. I love preparing for this holiday.
One of the first tasks, prior to the new year arriving, is to clean our home before we decorate.
I'm a bit traditional in that I don't use a vacuum cleaner.
Many folks believe that luck hides in the home and needs to be swept away in order to make room for all the good luck that will arrive come the new year.
Hey, that's pretty neat.
And Nai -Nai, speaking of luck, I see you've been busy getting the scrolls prepared for tonight.
Yes. Those rose a red paper with gold trim on the table.
Once the home has been cleaned, it's tradition to write good wishes to our family for the coming new year.
Which we then hang on the walls, along with other decorations.
Mmm. Something smells delicious.
Oh, Nai -Nai's holiday cooking is amazing.
Some of the traditional foods that are served for this new year's celebration are steamed fish, dumplings, and spring rolls, which are all associated with prosperity.
A whole baked chicken and sweet sticky rice balls, which symbolize togetherness and family unity.
And then there's my all -time favorite.
A soup served with longevity noodles.
Which, as their name suggests, represents a happy and healthy long life.
Oh wow. That all sounds very yummy.
Oh, it will be. But before we eat, can you help me seal the last of these red envelopes?
Sure. I noticed them sitting on the coffee table.
They have such beautiful designs and writing on them.
They're called hongbao.
Parents and grandparents give children envelopes with money inside.
They often place them under their pillows at night.
And by doing so, we'll bring them riches in the new year, while keeping away bad dreams.
Sounds good to me? Oh no, it's Nian.
Bangagong. Light some firecrackers.
Haha. It's okay, Trusty.
It's just grandma's friends coming over to celebrate the new year.
Oh. Phew. Xing nian kuai là.
Xing nian kuai là. Happy new year.
Happy new year. A big shout out to smarty fan Amelia in San Mateo, California.
We're so glad Who Smarted makes dinner time much more fun.
You get to fill up on food and knowledge at the same time.
Also, we love that you love the theme song.
Who Smarted? I think it was you.
This episode, Chinese New Year, was written by Dave, Year of the Ox Davis, and voiced by Jenny, Year of the Dragon Chan.
Adam, Year of the Pig Davis, and Jerry Goldberg.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh, Year of the Horse Han.
Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max, Year of the Snake, Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian, Year of the Sheep, Suarez.
With lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Goldberg.
This has been an atomic entertainment production.
Star glow!
