The coming lunar year is the Year of Rooster. In ancient China, there were many customs related to the rooster, and even in modern China, rooster-related customs abound. For example, the first day of the first lunar month is named "the day of the rooster," when any killing or beating of a rooster is prohibited, and feeding is done in a more careful way.

Wearing Rooster-shape Ornaments
People in northwest China and eastern Shandong Province have the custom of wearing a "Spring Rooster" ornament at the Beginning of spring (around March 20).

The ornament, also known as "Spring Rooster", is diamond-shaped and made of shreds of cloths and stuffed with cotton. It is usually pinned on the left sleeve of children's clothes, symbolizing good fortune in the New Year. At the end of the Spring Festival, usually the 16th day of the first lunar month, the ornament will be thrown away at a temple fair.

In today's Jinhua area of East China's Zhejiang Province, there is the custom of wearing a "Rooster-heart Packet" at the Dragon Boat Festival. Made with a piece of red cloth, the heart-shaped packet is filled with rice, tea leaves and realgar (natural mineral) powder, and put around children's neck so as to prevent evil and bring blessings.

Killing Roosters
In some places of Central China's Henan Province, there is a custom of killing a rooster on October 1, which is said to be capable of scaring away ghosts. Legend has it that the King of Hell will release ghosts on that day and will not call them until Pure Brightness (around April 4th ). The people in those areas believe the ghosts have a fear for roosters' blood, hence giving rise to the custom of killing a rooster on that day.

The custom of killing roosters is also popular in other places, but for different purposes. For example, in Jinhua City of Zhejiang Province, roosters are killed on July 7 (Known as Chinese Valentine's Day) when the Cowherd meets the Weaving Maiden. The local people believe that if the rooster who heralds the daybreak is killed, the two lovers will never again part with each other.

Another rooster-killing custom that takes place in other places of Zhejiang Province occurs on matrimonial occasions: Prior to the wedding day ceremony, the bride's family will lay a white cloth on the floor and watch the bridegroom kill a rooster over it. If blood falls on the cloth, the bridegroom will be asked to drink wine. Usually, while the bridegroom is killing the rooster, the bride's relatives and friends will knock against him purposefully; however, experienced men can often handle the situation with ease.

Rooster games
For the Tujia Ethnic Minority Group (mainly distributed in West Hunan Province), "kicking the rooster" is both a good entertainment and an important opportunity to find perfect lover. When the Spring Festival comes, many young people, men and women, will kick the rooster together. One of them will start the first kick, and the one that gets it can beat anyone they wish with grass. Usually, they will beat the one they have set their hearts on.

"Rooster fighting" is another traditional folk game that is popular among Han people and some ethnic minority groups in South China's Yunnan Province. Due to different local customs, the game is played at different times and in different forms. In Kaifeng City of Henan Province, the game is held on the twenty-second day of the first lunar month at a venue covering an area of 330 square meters with walls on four sides. The owners, each with a rooster in hand, wait patiently for the game to begin, while the gamblers lay their stakes on separate pits, each representing a rooster.

Rooster gifts
Among the Bai Ethnic Minority people living in Dali of Yunnan Province, there is a popular custom of "giving rooster-rice gifts", including single and double gifts. The former includes a jug of wine and a fat rooster, and the latter, a jug of rice wine, a jug of seed grain, and two fat roosters. Such gifts are presented between close relatives on big occasions, such as for wedding or upon completion of new houses.

In some places of Central China's Hunan Province, there is the custom of presenting "leave-mother chicken meat." Prior to the wedding day, the bridegroom will present some chicken meat to the bride's family, particularly to the bride's mother to bid farewell, hence the name "leave-mother rooster."

Editor: Catherine