According to Chinese legend and myth, Chinese New Year began with a battle against a mythical beast, known as Nian. 

Nian would come on the first day of Chinese New Year and pretty much cause devastation, eating crops, livestock, villagers, and in particular, children. So, to protect themselves, all the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the start of the New Year in a bid to feed the Nian, and stop it from eating everything else, such as the villagers.

It was also deduced that the Nian was afraid of the color red, as on occasion, the children were playing outside, wearing red clothing and the Nian was scared off upon seeing the colors. After that realization, the villagers decided to hang red lanterns and red scrolls from their doors and windows, and for extra scare tactics, they started fireworks (surprisingly, most even today are also red in color!) with loud bangs to scare off Nian. Suffice to say, Nian never visited the village again.

Well, not that much has changed from the myth of Nian! For anyone who has experienced a Chinese New Year celebration, you will be only too aware that the color RED is everywhere!

You may also have seen a lion dance take place, and heard the firecrackers banging loudly into the smoke-filled sky.

Although there is not much information on Nian, it would appear that the beast has been made into a lion type creature with an extremely long body, depending on how many lion dancers there are!

The colors of the lions will vary, but you cannot miss hearing the loud bashing and clanging of the drums and brass instruments accompanying the lion dance, and of course, now we know it is to ward off Nian and stop it from eating all the villagers.  

At the end of a lion dance, you will often see the lion being fed a lettuce, dangling from a long cane, again, this could be to represent the feeding of the Nian by the villagers all those years ago.

Leading up to the Eve of Chinese New Year, it is customary to give your house a spring clean, and I mean a thorough cleansing! This is to sweep away any ill fortune and to open the way for incoming fortune.

All the brushes and brooms are then put away and not used until after the celebrations, for fear of sweeping away the new year, thus all cleaning has to be done before the end of the previous year.

Varying amounts of money will be spent on decorations, in the way of lanterns, scrolls, mainly with Chinese characters wishing health, happiness, long life, and good fortune,  food, clothing (new clothing, particularly shoes are of significance, haircuts), and gifts, and red packets, or red envelopes, containing money.

Businesses are expected to pay off their 'old' debt and this even extends to debts of gratitude where gifts and rice can often be given in business for the start of the coming year.

On the Eve of Chinese New Year, it is customary for a huge family gathering to take place, and of course, when you combine Chinese people in any numbers, there will always be food involved!

There are some special dishes that have strong meaning to the celebrations, for example, Buddha's Delight is a vegetarian dish and its ingredients vary hugely throughout Southeast Asia. 
It is traditionally served in Chinese households on the first day of the Chinese New Year, originating from the old Buddhist practice that one should maintain a vegetarian diet in the first five days of the new year, as a form of self-purification.  
Each ingredient of the dish is ascribed a particular auspicious meaning.  Below, we've added some lovely vegetarian recipes which you can try.