New Year Countdown: Fire crackers and the color red

Growing up, I did not understand why my mom would dress me in red. In fact, as I am writing this, I am making a mental inventory of anything (clothes, shoes, bags, purses, other things that you guys can think of) that I owned that is in the shade of red and, there are a lot of them!Its not coincidence that in my profile picture, my glasses are in red (and no, its not another Asian belief or tradition that I am wearing glasses- its just that I am near sighted). The reasons given by my mom why she prefers the shade was that it would ward off evil spirits and diseases and well, enhance luck.In fact, it was sort of conditioned in me to prefer anything in red. I did not find that strange as most of the people in my town prefer the color especially during this holiday. It was only when I got the chance to meet people from abroad that I realized that somehow, my fascination for this shade is bordering to obsession- at least that's how they perceive it.

Another thing that I grew up witnessing is the variety of fire crackers utilized during the season. The Philippine government is always verbalizing its concern during this time as most of us would prefer to light fire crackers and as a result some sustain injuries from it. Yes. There are a lot of laws, bans, regulations- issued related to this to minimize injuries and over the years, they had been successful. But our "desire" for using them during the season did not end. Its just that we got creative into finding government regulated fire crackers to use.

Are you guys trying to figure out how these things tie up together? Well, it all started a long time ago in an ancient village in China.The residents used to lock up their houses every new year's eve. During the holidays, a monster named Nian who lives in the mountains( some said under the sea) would wake up and wreck havoc. Nian would destroy anything in its path. It would kill live stocks and people who has the misfortune to have their homes demolished by the monster or are just unfortunate enough to encounter Nian in the village roads.

The villagers tried a lot of strategies to defeat or scare Nian away including sending search parties in the mountains to kill the monster while it sleeps for the next 11 months. Unfortunately, they were never able to locate its lair and all their efforts of fighting or driving the monster away always resulted in more deaths or more destruction to their properties.

One new year's eve, a monk visited the village and volunteered to drive Nian away. Since they do not have any other choice, they accepted the offer and braised themselves for another night of terror. Unfortunately on that night, Nian seems to be absent. They never heard his cries or even the sound of the monster wrecking havoc in their properties. In fact, it seems like any other peaceful night.

The following day, the villagers demanded to know what the monk did to drive away or defeat Nian. The monk answered that he knows that Nian is afraid of the bright lights, the color red and of loud noises. From that time on, whenever the new year celebration approaches, the villagers would always hang red decorations and red lanterns in their homes and roads. In fact, they adapted the use of fire crackers to create loud noises in order to drive Nian away. FUN FACT - the Chinese term for new year is Guo Nian which means overcoming Nian.

Over the years, the legend of Nian had been passed on from one generation to another and sometimes, the details got muddled up. I do not have a Chinese predecessor who can tell me this story but, I certainly have a lot of Chinese friends. Being Asian, some of our cultures and traditions had been influenced by our neighbors and this is one of the things that we gladly embraced and adapted. So now, when you meet me in person, please do not remark or react negatively on how "red" I am. Its just that perhaps, I am just trying to attract good fortune and drive Nian away.