Everything you need to know about 人日 in 60 sec

Many of us would know that on the seventh day of Chinese New Year (which, by the way, is on 14 February 2016—Valentine’s Day!) is 人日, but how much do you know about this, except for the fact that in Chinese culture, it’s everyone’s birthday?

The fact is, according to Chinese culture, during the first seven days of Chinese New Year, it’s just not humans’ birthday: on the first day, chickens were created, and on the second day, dogs, next is boar, then sheep, then cow, then horse before humans. In other words, depending on when you’re reading this, it’s an animal’s birthday!

The legend is that女媧 created the world and created these animals on different days.

Because of this, people should avoid killing these animals during their birthday. For example, on the first day of Chinese New Year, chickens shouldn’t be killed—but let’s face it, how many of us makan-ed chicken during the first day?

In the old days, people put sliced gold on their hair as a mark of respect. During this day, poems are also composed, although no one knows why these were being done during人日.

Nowadays, celebrations of人日 is very different. In Singapore and Malaysia, Chinese would have lohei yusheng, which is uniquely Singapore / Malaysia, as people in China have lucky foods like “Seven-vegetable soup” (七菜羹) or “Seven-vegetable congee” (七菜粥)—anything with seven and are considered lucky. The idea of “seven” is to mark the seventh day of Chinese New Year.

So, now that you know this, are you going to celebrate your birthday or Valentine’s Day?

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