The family reunion

On the eve of the Lunar Festival, every family will try their best to assemble at the home of the eldest member, where they enjoy the family reunion feast in which dumplings (jiaozi) are the most typical food. It is a time for old debts to be settled and differences smoothed over. It is an important Chinese belief that no one should go into the New Year bearing grudges or do anything that disrupts family harmony.

Devout Taoists burn joss sticks at ancestral altars and offer special dishes, nuts, fruits and flowers to the dead. Prayers are said to determine if the food has been received by the departed. As a mark of filial piety and respect, no one else can eat until it is agreed that the dead have received their gifts.