6. Tradition, Culture, Belief, Shrine, Chinese Gods and Feng Shui Chinese people have a strong belief in gods combined with the teachings of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. These are the source of Chinese traditions and rituals which will be discussed further. 6.1 Traditions of Chinese People 6.1.1 Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the New Year tradition in Chinese Lunar New Year. It starts on the first day of the first month in Chinese lunar month. Then, Lantern Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of and traditionally ends the Chinese New Year period. Chinese New Year is considered to be one of the most important holidays of Chinese people. Thai- Chinese people normally celebrate the tradition for 3 days; buying day, worshiping day and traveling day. One of the symbols of Chinese New Year is Ang pow (a red envelope), an envelope of money that adults will give to minors and exchange the envelops with each other. This also called as Tae Ea (tie the waist). As the Chinese coins have holes in the middle, Chinese adults will string the coins together with red ropes into bunches and bring them to children. The children will tie bunches of coins to their waist. Greetings and Blessing Words in Chinese New Year In Chinese New Year, people will say blessing or greeting words to others including putting up red couplets (ห่ออ่วย) to celebrate Chinese New Year. The popular terms include: 新正如意新年發財 / 新正如意新年发财 X īn zhēng rúyì xīnnián fācái/ xīn zhēng rúyì xīnnián fācái Good luck and be prosperous in New Year 恭喜發財 / 恭喜发财 Gōngxǐ Fācái Congratulations and be prosperous 6.1.2 Lion Dance Tradition At present, the traditions of Thai-Chinese descents in Ratchaburi province gradually disappeared. Therefore, people in Ratchaburi province together help preserve the valuable culture of Thai-Chinese descent that is famously known around the world, Chinese New Year. Ratchaburi Municipality cooperated with Tourism Authority of Thailand and Ratchaburi Province have organized "Ratchaburi Chinatown" or "The China Town Ratchaburi" annually since 2010, during the period of Chinese New Year (February of each year). The purposes are to promote and preserve the traditions and culture of Thai-Chinese people such as the tradition of lion dance as well as stimulating the economy of Ratchaburi Province and the relationship between Chinese-affiliated organizations. 6.1.3 Jeh Festival Jeh Festival or Vegetarian Festival is a nine-day Taoist celebration that begins on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. The word Jeh in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism has the same meaning as the word chapel. Therefore, Jeh is eating before noon. At present, those who eat all three meals but do not eat meat are still called vegetarians. The vegetarians in Jeh festival do not only abstain from eating meat but also live in a good moral, pure and clean body and speech. Jeh food is cooked without meat including no other ingredients derived from all types of meat. The vegetarians refrain from five strong- smelling vegetables which are 1) garlic, 2) onions (including spring onion and shallot) 3) elephant garlic, 4) garlic chives, 5) tobacco leaves as well as strong spices. 6.1.4 Gods and Immortals Worship Gods and Immortals Worship is a tradition that Chinese people have been practiced for more than 3,000 years (Zhou Dynasty). The purposes are to achieve prosperity and happiness to oneself and his family. It generates the tradition of paying respect to the sacred and the ancestors at home. Annually, Chinese people will organize the eight Chinese gods worship festivals. The tradition of worshiping has specific name called 八节 or Ba jié (Ba means eight and Jié means Festival). 6.1.5 Chinese Wedding traditions The importance of Chinese marriage is not about preparing things in the ceremony but the honor of seniors of the two families. In the wedding day, the bride will prepare a suitcase of new beautiful clothes for her new life with the groom. The bride will get a chest of gold and jewelry attached with a red heart label as a gift from her parents including personal belongings. In addition, the bride wears a bridal bib made from beautiful red silk with a pack of five seeds, gold hairpin, and two Chong Cao tree. This bridal bib was originally designed to be a good symbol of having a plenty of descendants. If the bride has a good social status, the bib’s string can be made of a gold necklace weighing four baht (about 60.96 grams) because four is an auspicious number in Chinese’s belief. Apart from the dowry, the groom needs to prepare auspicious items to offer at the bride’s house in the wedding day before the time of escorting a new couple to a bedroom. The bride must wear the best makeup in her life as it is a special day. The bride's mother will adorn gold hairpin, Graptophyllum pictum leaves and pomegranate leaves on bride's hair. After that, it will be the time for paying respect to ancestors and guardian spirit. Then, they join the last meal with family. The father will offer food to his daughter and utter the auspicious names of food they eat. In the morning, guests and relatives all together come to the house. The new husband and wife must offer tea to their parents and relatives to drink and give blessings as well as money for the new couple for starting new life. When finish the tea ceremony, the couple will eat pink Chinese sweetmeat (Dongzhi). Three, seven or fifteen days after the wedding (it depends on the auspicious date.), the bride returns to her maiden home to visit her family. The bride must prepare a tray of twelve oranges for her parents. The tea ceremony for bride’s parents and relatives will be performed again. Then it will be a party to welcome the son-in-law. 6.1.6 The Tradition of dedicating merit to the dead people (Gongdé) The Gongdé ritual is based on two religions and one doctrine which are Buddhism (Pure Land Buddhism), Taoism and Confucianism. For Buddhism, it relates to Buddhist teaching with no rituals. Taoism is about the balance and rituals to convey the meaning while Confucianism is about worshiping items and expressing gratitude of descendants. 6.1.7 Qingming Tradition (Tomb-Sweeping Day) The most important tradition of the Chinese people is paying respect to the ancestors at tombs, graves or burial grounds in “Qingming Festival”. It is the tradition for expressing gratitude to ancestors. In Qingming festival, there will be offerings such as food and tea at the tomb in order to commemorate the goodness of their ancestors. In addition, they believe that this tradition allows them to send food to ancestors every year and it can help them from starving when they pass away. Most of Chinese people will stop working on that day to participate in the ceremony and meet their relatives. 6.1.8 Zongzi Tradition Zongzi (the glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves) are traditionally eaten during the Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival). This tradition occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional Chinese calendar (5th day of waxing moon in 7th month of Thai lunar calendar). Chinese people will make or buy Zongzi the day before the festival. In the morning of the festival day, they bring Zongzi to worship the sacred in the house and the shrine. The two popular kinds of Zongzi are sweet and salty Zongzi. 6.1.9 Mid-Autumn Festival Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar (the full moon or the 15th day of the 10th month of the Thai lunar calendar). The Mid-Autumn Festival is inherited from the Chinese emperor who wanted to worship the sun during spring and the moon in the night of full moon during mid-autumn. The dessert offered in the festival are Chinese cake and white and yellow cooked glutinous rice flour snack (Khanom Koh). 6.1.10 Dongzhi Festival Dongzhi Festival is held in the beginning of the first month in Thai lunar calendar. The festival has no exact date as it will be changed each year. In this festival, Chinese people will pay respect Chinese gods by Dongzhi and eat the dessert at home. 6.2 Specific Traditions in Local Area 6.2.1 Basket Dropping Tradition (Gui jié, or Ghost Festival) It is the tradition that Chinese people in Ratchaburi Province annually organize in seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar or the ninth month of Thai lunar calendar. It is known as “Ghost Month” (Gui yuè). It is said that the hell will release souls to receive merit in the human world at the end of seventh month. Later, the souls will return to their original place . 6.2.2 Photharam Beach Annual Festival It is a special event that occurs only in Photharam District. The purpose is to celebrate the start of winter and to bless people. The event will be held for six days and six nights starting from the eighteenth day of the twelfth month in the Chinese calendar or around January in the solar calendar. Before starting the ceremony, there will be a marquee arranged on the beach of the Mae Klong River. 6.2.3 Guan Yu Worship Festival It is the annual event of the Photharam district that firstly started in 1995 during summer. The theme of the event is the same as the Photharam Beach Annual Festival.