On Chinese New Year
Eve, parents encourage
children to stay awake as long as possible, because legend says that the
longer children stay awake the longer their parents will live.
The Kitchen God was an important ancient
deity. Once each year, right before the new year, this god's job was to make
an annual report about the behavior of the household to his boss, the "Jade
Emperor". Today, as part of the Chinese New Year celebration, sweets are
often exchanged so that the kitchen god's report will be sweet and flattering.
(Nobody believes in the kitchen god anymore, but almost everyone likes the
treats!)
