Tomorrow is the celebration of the Chinese New Year. Such an important date for oriental culture has its roots on a fascinating legend that says a lot about human nature and how we deal with problems. Today, we’re sharing the Legend of Nian with you, captain.

According to legends and traditions, the Chinese New Year would always begin with the arrival of a mythological monster named Nian, that appeared to terrorize the people of a small village. Nian would devour the villagers that it would find in its path, specially children.

In order to face such a threat, the villagers began putting food at their doors to appease Nian’s hunger when it came in the beginning of the year. They believed that, if Nian was satisfied, it would not eat the villagers.

Except things didn’t stay that way. One of the villagers decided to take revenge against Nian’s threat.

Eventually, a god appeared to this brave villager and told him to put a red tape on his house’s door and light firecrackers when Nian came.

At the Chinese New Year, the villagers did as the god told them: they decorated their doors with red ornaments and pieces of paper and prepared firecrackers to be used when Nian came. The beast never appeared ever again at the village.

Nian was scared of the color red.

Today, the Chinese New Year celebrations retain these characteristics: lots of red decorations and fireworks. Among the various visual motifs used in the celebrations are many representations of Nian made of paper.

Do you want to learn more about the Chinese New Year? So keep an eye out for tomorrow’s Logbook post, on the big day, to check out a surprise we prepared for our captains.