A list of Chinese New Year's foods. By Paula Haller

Tradition dictates that homes be cleaned and new clothes purchased in anticipation of the New Year.  Decorations throughout the house and on the table symbolize themes of happiness, wealth, and long life.  RED symbolizes happiness and good luck, while GOLD signifies wealth.

Flowers that fill a home each have symbolic significance.  In one vase, plum blossoms just starting to bloom are arranged with bamboo and pine sprigs, the grouping symbolizing friends:  the plum blossom which appears even when the weather is still very cold, also signifies reliability and perseverance (and signifies by its bloom that spring is not far away);  the bamboo is known for its compatibility, its utility, providing shoots to eat and strong, flexible stems for furniture and other articles; the evergreen pine evokes longevity and steadiness.

"Apples" = ping kuo in Chinese; another character for "ping" = peace

"Golden oranges" = stand for wealth

"Nien kao" (sticky cake) = embodies idea of melding family together.

"Yuan shiao" (round balls), sticky rice-flour sweets stuffed with sweetened bean
           paste, reassure the ancestors and remind the living generations of the
           preciousness of the family circle.

"Sweet sugar cane" segments (banded in red) - indicate steps of upward mobility to which every family aspires.

"Chiao tzu" = small, crescent-shaped dumplings = traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve.  Tradition has it that sometimes something can be wrapped in the "chiao tzu" for luck.  (for example,  a "ring" to symbolize a mother's hopes for her daughter's marriage).

As for sweets of preserved fruits and candied seeds:
       lotus seeds - lien tze = lots of children.

Chinese "firecrackers" are set off a midnight  at the front door to scare away evil spirits as well as welcome in the New Year.

Red Envelopes = are given to children w/money in them.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated on the first day of the second new moon following the winter solstice.