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The spring roll originated in China. It was traditionally a festival food. According to Weldon Russell of Cooking.Com, “The spring roll is a traditional Chinese festival food, eaten at Chinese New Year, which officially heralds the coming of spring” (Russell http://www.cooking.com/recipes/static/ recipe1174.htm).

Chinese people (both in China and around) use two different calendars. They use the Gregorian calendar (the one used in Western Europe and North America) for day to day business and life. However, they also use a special Chinese calendar for determining festivals (Anonymous http://webexhibits.org/calendars /calendar-chinese.html). The Chinese calendar was created by the Emperor Huangdi in 2637 B.C. (Anonymous http://webexhibits.org/calendars /calendar-chinese.html). According to Calendars Through the Ages, The Chinese calendar is based on exact astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and the phases of the moon. This means that principles of modern science have had an impact on the Chinese calendar (Anonymous http://webexhibits.org/calendars /calendar-chinese.html).

The dates of the festivals of the Chinese calendar change slightly because they are based on observations of the sun and the moon. According to Calendars Through the Ages,
An ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days. When determining what a Chinese year looks like, one must make a number of astronomical calculations (Anonymous http://webexhibits.org/calendars /calendar-chinese.Html).

This means that the exact dates of festivals will vary year to year. According to Holiday Pages for Activity Village, “Chinese New Year is on February 5th this year” (Anonymous http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_new_year.htm). This means that Chinese New Year usually starts sometime in early February.

Chinese New Year is one of the most important festivals in Chinese culture. It is a festival to celebrate the coming of spring. Because the Chinese calendar is slightly different every year the date of Chinese New Year does not fall on the same date on the Gregorian calendar. According to the Chinese New Year Webpage, Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade (Anonymous http://www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_new_year.html).

During the traditional food for Chinese New Year is the Spring Roll. It is served at a special diner called Weilu or “Surrounding the Stove” (Anonymous http://www.educ.uvic.ca/ faculty/mroth/438/ CHINA/ chinese_new_year.html). Weilu is when families honour the spirits of their ancestors with a large communal meal. This meal is held on New Years Eve in the family banquet table. According to the Chinese New Year Website, “The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations” (Anonymous http://www.educ.uvic.ca/ faculty/ mroth/ 438/ CHINA/ chinese_new_year.html).

Every food cooked and eaten during Chinese New Year has symbolic meaning. According to Harriet Docker on the Waitrose Food Illustrated Webpage, Children in China and Malaysia are taught from an early age the importance of cooking and eating,and how different foods affect the body. Too many chillies, for example, are said to cause mouth ulcers; fried foods make the body unhealthily hot; while lychees have a cooling effect. This comes from the ancient concept of yin-yang: foods have yin (cooling) or yang (heating) properties and must be kept in equilibrium in the body. Accordingly, an excess of any one food can upset the balance and cause disease (Docker http://www.waitrose.com/ food_drink/wfi/index.asp).

Customs surrounding food are passed down from generation to generation. The ideas of Yin and Yang or the opposites in the universe (Male/female, Hot/Cold, Wet/Dry, Black/White, etc..) are an important part of customs for Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year is a very important day in the Chinese culture and it is believed that activities on this day will determine individual and family fortune in the year ahead (Anonymous http://www.educ.uvic.ca/ faculty/ mroth/ 438/ CHINA/ chinese_new_year.html). Because of various superstitions families have developed customs about who does what activities. For example, when Docker was learning about Chinese New Year from her friend Michelle Lee she learned that the cooking duties in a family often switched on Chinese New Year. Docker quotes Lee as saying, “My Dad did all the fancy cooking while my Mum did the everyday dishes, so now I can do both”(Docker http://www.waitrose.com/food_drink/wfi/index.asp). This would appear to be another example of how the concept of Yin and Yang influence the activities of Chinese New Year. Usually the women do the cooking. But on Chinese New Year along with many other festivals the men do the cooking.

One final note of interest. The fillings placed into spring rolls various from region to region. According to Russell, “The fillings used in spring rolls vary throughout the regions of China, with each region claiming theirs as the best” (Russell http://www.cooking.com/recipes/static/ recipe1174.htm). This is very similar to certain foods in North America.